Wesleyan University or Bust!

"Is she moving away permanently?" you might ask. No, Ari is simply moving in to her dorm at Wesleyan University in Connnecticut for her freshman year. I've moved across the country to relocate from Los Angeles back to Columbus - with two small children - with less baggage than this. Not only are the "way back" seats turned under, we also took out a middle-row seat to fit everything in. See that little grey-green bag beneath the pillows? That's my stuff.
Ari hugs Quin good-bye. I think Ari will miss the Littles the most.

Ari with Grandma. Ari really wanted Grandma to come with us, but Adam had to be out of town and Grandma was in charge of the Littles while we were gone.

We made the trip in 12 hours and found our hotel. That left enough time to drive to the campus in the evening. Ari wanted to go to O'Rourke's diner because she had seen it on the travel channel, but it was closed by the time we got there. She had to settle for her favorite food - sushi - at Mikado's instead.

Wesleyan had the registration and move-in process down pat. We went to the science hall, got her ID and extra information and goodies, checked in with financial aid, and turned in her W-4 and I9 forms in less than 15 minutes.

When we drove to the dorm, the police officers parked us, and campus volunteers had the car unloaded in 3 minutes flat - less time than it took Ari to get her key. And then they had all of her stuff - that whole van full of stuff - in her room before I parked the car and walked back to the dorm. We got there at 9:00, and we finished the entire registration process and were in the room with all of her stuff by 9:30.

It really impressed me - woo hoo OCD campus organizers!

Ari meets her roommate, Taylor. They've been talking online for months, but this is the first face-to-face moment. Taylor's whole family came - mom and dad, two sisters, and grandma. Though Taylor's family lives in DC, her grandmother lives about 20 minutes from campus. She very graciously offered to include Ari in some "home and family" moments if she needs some.

Believe it or not, all that stuff fit in her room. I had to eat a little crow, because I had anticipated having to bring a lot back with me.

Ari and Taylor had the room in a livable state before noon. All that's left is putting up a few more things on the walls.

We bumped into the other Academy student who is attending Wesleyan over lunch and met his roomate. That afternoon, when Ari expressed a little concern about getting to meet people, I pointed out that she already knew three and has a whole week of orientation to meet more. I think she's feeling better about that today than yesterday, because she sent me a Facebook message that said she was going to watch a movie after dinner with a girl she had met in her dorm. Taylor was feeling the same way, I think, but told her mom she felt OK about it because she figured everyone was in the same boat.

After boxed lunches on the lawn, we picked up some of Ari's books from the package mailroom. We met up with Taylor and her family as they were coming back from the campus bookstore.

Talk about "meant to be" - the girls had the identical shade of nail polish on their toes!

And when Taylor's family and I left the dorm, our vans were parked right next to each other in the parking lot. It was a little eerie, but very reassuring. They'll be a good match.

In fact, I felt so good about the entire experience that I didn't cry for half of the trip home.

I only cried the last 6 hours.

Oh, and today, when Adam wanted to use Ari's car to take me to my pre-operative testing at Riverside because "it gets better gas mileage," both he and my mother looked at me like I had lost my mind when that made me start crying.

I figure I'm allowed at least a few weeks of good mope.