Empty Nest.... AHHHHHH!!!

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

I'm STILL tired! Apparently 6 hours is my time limit on sleep. Ah, well... on to my story.

I have a confession to make. This is the one college move I was really looking forward to on several fronts.

First, Dani has given me a lot of trouble over the past 5 years (to be honest, this kid has been a major brat most of her life!) When her dad left and I was such a mess, she got to be the adult and learned quickly to take care of herself (which is great now because she's very self-sufficient). And since I met John, it's been REALLY bad! Not going into it, but just saying...

Second, I've had kids in school for 20 years now. And I was the parent who got them up for school, helped with homework, drove them places, filled out all those friggin forms every single year. I did my 20. Time to retire! Too bad you don't get a pension for being a mommy. (actually you do.. it's called grandkids but it's not time for them yet.)

So Saturday was THE DAY!!! The timing isn't good, with John in the hospital and my ex sent me a message 2 days before the move to ask if I wanted him to take her to school (thanks Greg... you learned from your bitch sister really well to wait until the last minute to offer to help) I said no, unless Dani wanted him to go with her. She didn't.

We were going to pack up the cars on Friday night, but it was raining, so we decided to wait until the morning instead. Luckily, the rain had stopped by morning (temporarily). We were up at 6:30 to shower and pack the car and heading out by 7:30! Woo hoo! On time and perhaps even a few minutes early! I had Dani gas up the cars the night before. I gave her $10 for my car, but it only took the gauge to 3/4 full so we stopped at Wawa (like 7/11 or Turkey Hill or Cumberland Farms or Sheetz) for coffee and stuff and I topped off my gas tank. We're on the road before 8am which is terrific!

This is the picture of her new dorm building. They are replacing
all the old dorms one by one and they're all just beautiful!

The trip to IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) is 4.5 hour drive, 260 miles, more than half of it on the PA Turnpike. On the way it rained a little here and there, not bad. Once we got past Harrisburg, the rain started in earnest! It POURED!!! We had to go through 3 tunnels when we got to the mountains and that seemed to be the only break from the weather we had for a while. The rain finally slowed up, and we had light rain on and off for a while longer, then stopped altogether.

These are the choices for dorms. Dani's in a 4 girl suite, the top center picture

I swear, as soon as we drove past the sign that said Borough of Indiana, the rain started up again! Our time to move in was 1 pm and we got to town at 12:45pm! Perfect! We get to the school, grab 2 spots, Dani heads off to check in and I start unloading the cars. Thank goodness I borrowed the hand truck from work! We got all her stuff to her room in 3 trips! Not bad! Her rooms are really nice!!! She's in a 4 girl suite, 2 girls in each bedroom, with a bathroom in each bedroom and in between the 2 rooms is a kitchen and a living room! This suite was only a few hundred more per year than a regular 2 person dorm room. And its in a brand new building! I didn't get to meet Dani's room mate... she was at a family reunion and didn't get back to the dorm until about 10 pm. I did meet the other 2 suite mates. They seem like nice girls!

So we move the cars to the long term parking lot, getting her parking pass along the way. The lot is a good 10-15 minute walk from the school, but there are shuttle buses that run back and forth throughout the day and there are also buses that take kids into town for free! Supposedly, Dani is only using her car to drive home for orthodontist appointments and she'll leave the car at home once the braces come off. Yeah, right. We'll see.

So back to the dorm to unpack and then we head over to the bookstore to buy her books because we totally forgot about ordering books early and getting a 10% discount. Her dad put $600 in her account for books and her bill was $275! Three of her profs didn't require books! Woo hoo! Don't tell Dad!!!

The bus heading to the parking lot goes by once an hour, so a little after 4:30 I left Dani in her dorm. I didn't cry, but I will admit to getting a bit choked up for a few seconds. Dani ruffled my hair and said, "Oh, you're so cute, Mom!" hahaha

By 5pm, I was heading out of town. Luckily, the rain didn't start up again (it stopped right after we got her moved in... rained long enough to soak us good!). As I got closer to my end of the turnpike, I could see lightning in the distance, but I didn't get any rain. I had to drive past work, so I stopped there and dropped off the hand truck. I thought about having a drink but decided against it because it just might put my on my ass!

I got to my house around 10:30pm, completely exhausted! I had gotten a large coffee for the drive home, so I was caffeinated!! I couldn't go right to sleep, but once I did go to bed, I was out like a light quickly!

Then I was wide awake at 6:30 on Sunday morning! Damn! I thought I'd sleep until 10 at least! So I headed downstairs, put on a pot of coffee, caught up a bit here and on Facebook. Then I started to take my house back! I figure it's going to take me 2 weeks to get everything put away and thrown out. I just might need a dumpster!