Oh....Iowa....

It's close to 11pm.....and I'm still watching the lightening through the window....a summer storm in the Midwest is an amazing show.

It was a good day.....spent most of it walking around this huge bucolic campus.....with 100 year old trees.....small streams and a classic pond with fat swans....nestled next to old classic brick buildings as well as new contemporary classrooms.

Although Iowa State is a huge school it's so different from Ohio State where I dropped my daughter off 4 years ago.....Iowa State is situated in the cornfields and when we arrived last night....I could smell the sweet scent of cut grass and alfalfa in the air.....in contrast....Ohio State was a very urban campus with much more blight and the problems of big city knocking at the door.

My son and I were good troopers...started the day early....sat in this classroom then this lecture hall....filled out this form......and that form.....and were so efficient ....after he meets with his advisor in the morning....we are cleared to go.....and we will head back home.

He seems excited and happy to start life here....we glimpsed his future dorm room.....we decided a bike is a better idea than a car....and several cute blond Midwestern girls.....gave him the eye (of course I noticed).

And I did my job as mom tonight...shooing him to sleep in the dorm....texting him an encouraging message to join in the bowling and basketball games for orientees this evening.

I am proud to say I only texted one followup.....message.

"R u okay?"

"Yeah."

I wondered how many times I was going to text that message from now on.

I guess.....as long as a Yeah....comes back.....it's a thumb's up.

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Hitting the Cornfields......

Holy Shit....I'm la la la-ing......didn't finish unpacking from New York.... and I'm leaving at 7am for the cornfields of Iowa in a few short hours.

Taking my son to college orientation in Ames......which thankfully....is not under water.

I can tell he's excited......yesterday his roommate....a guy from South Dakota....sent him an email....today he got his dorm assignment (he's in an old all male building)......when we arrive......they'll do a counseling and orientation sessions and set up his classes.....plus we'll complete the other necessities to start life up there in August.

He sleeps in the dorm while we're there....I choose to sleep in some student union accomodations they're setting up for the parents....hell....I don't need much.....and I'd rather be on campus so I can walk around when I'm not scheduled for my parent sessions.

The campus is huge....one of those land grant colleges....where they gave a hunk of land to the state and said ...build ye a university....which they did.


You know....I always thought that by the time we reached the third child... all these life changes and milestones would get easier.....the letting go....the find your own life and happiness thing.....

but I swear my heart feels just as constricted tonight as when I first took my daughter to Ohio....it does not get easier....in fact....I think it gets harder....because you know....you really know.....they aren't yours anymore....and this is what all your work amounts to.....the gift to find their own way.

I think he'll fit well up in Iowa....he's got a Midwest corn boy attitude.....solid.....grounded.....calm....positive.....I think this university is a good fit for him. I worry about the challenges he'll face as a young adult up there....but....you just have to let go and hope he makes good decisions....or at least figues out when he's made bad ones.

Now......best find those cans of Starbuck double espressos I hid....and grab some CD;s...cause I know how driving trips go with teens......I get behind the wheel in the morning....and he'll fluff his pillow up and sleep till noon.
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