The last two nights our daughter and I rewatched The fellowship of the Ring and The TwoTowers, tonight is The Return of the King (lost count of the times we have watched them and the how they were made appendicies). The grandparents who are staying with us are buying a sushi dinner for us all tonight as well. Tomorrow she and Mrs Mollusc are off to the cinema together. Thursday is travel day. Much child spoilage in progress!
I don’t have kids in college, but I was a kid in college once, and I join with those who say your kid will be OK, no matter what.
I went to college on the opposite coast from where I grew up, so I flew. My parents offered to come, but I wanted to go alone. We shipped some stuff ahead of time, but my flight was delayed and the mail room was closed by the time I arrived. Also the airlines lost my luggage and it took a day or two to get it back. So I arrived to my first night of college with pretty much just the clothes on my back, my laptop, a magazine, my cell phone, and my Discman and a few favorite CDs.
And you know what? It was fine. My RA lent me a sleeping bag and pillow since my sheets were locked in the mail room. A girl on my floor who grew up nearby and knew the area took me to CVS to buy a toothbrush. She’s still a close friend, 20 years later. I was very recognizable in a sea of new faces, wearing the same Metallica shirt two days in a row, so I feel like a lot of people talked to me that might not have otherwise, and I had a funny story to tell. Which was good, because I’m a little shy. I grew from this experience and had a great time in college. You’ve raised your kid well; he’ll figure the rest out.
So @Slash1972 how did it go? Hopefully you enjoyed at least part of it?
First, thank you everybody for your thoughts and replies!
And, of course, it went better than I expected 
They had a pretty good system set up for 7,000 freshmen moving in this week, a LOT better than I thought it would be. Plus, my son wisely picked a late (1700) move in time so most of the crowds on Saturday were gone and the parking and unloading were a lot easier. And by wisely, I mean he picked the later time so he wouldn’t have to wake up early on Saturday for the drive
During the move-in, his mother pretty much ran the show. I just did what she asked, no arguments, least of all because it wasn’t worth it, and most of all, I didn’t want to argue over stupid stuff in front of the kids. Most of it would have just been “Is worrying about picture placement on his desk THAT important that we have to discuss it for 10 minutes?”
The room was really nice, 2 roommates, so 3 guys total. They have their own bathroom and shower which is nice. I cringed when I saw his mother open their SUV and saw all the stuff, but she actually did a pretty good job getting it all arranged and organized. He pretty much has almost everything covered, including a lot I would have NEVER thought of (shoe rack comes to mind), so he should be all set.
Not really any tears, although (personal info ahead!) my voice did crack during our last goodbye before I started driving back.
so it went pretty well. We even all went to dinner one night which we haven’t done since 2007, so there’s that.
Again, thanks for all the tips and advice!
Awesome stuff, glad it went well.
This。I flew to LA friday morning to help the eldest who has ADHA/Anxiety, some depression and bad tendonitus in both wrists unpack from the May move. They just couldn’t unpack those 6 boxes. Good thing as Dad’s presence at the dorm office got the move switched from into a 2 bed room off campus dorm apartment shared with 3 kids to a single bedroom that is incredibly nice with a big open living kitchen office space with a decent balcony and a kitchen island designed to seat two. It’s prolly going to the be the most luxurious apartment they live in for the next decade.
It only took 6 hours to haul all their stuff about 50 yards down the hall to the new place. And then a few more hours to unpack those really intimidating boxes that had been sitting there for 3 months screaming “your a loser cause you can’t even open these much less unpack.” And we went shopping for about a month’s worth of healthy microwave lunches (for at school) and some kitchen hacks to make a good dinner without being overwhelmed (mainly pre-cooked rice).
Executive functioning has successfully rebooted. 
I am happy that I have the ability to read the coded SOS text message and be able to fly down for a day and a half and make everything better. This be a far cry from when I attended the sink or swim University of hard knocks. (Made me what I am, but not everyone who is forged by hot fire gets thru it more or less intact).
And I got the call to jump start the new year. Took a plane halfway across the country, getting the car an oil change and tune up, paying an electric bill that they thought got set up for automatic payment, and didn’t, getting the tracking system set up (again) and the room organized (which got almost done between the “Mom!” phone call and me showing up - knowing Mom was on their way was enough to make really good progress.) Making sure books got ordered (I was waiting for one of my professors to get their books up and he never did).
And a little roommate help. There was a point when my kid thought a thing of safety pins was closed wasn’t and they picked it up and pins all over the place. Not a big deal when you are healthy, But I was looking for the tape to secure the container and the room mate was “don’t worry about it, it isn’t a big deal, I thought it was kind of funny.” And I said “its no big deal and funny when you are healthy, but when anxiety is peaked, its the thing that puts you in a puddle on the floor.” “Oh…” And my kid was like “yep, exactly.”
I still need to wrestle with the pharmacy and insurance to figure out what the issue is with refilling ADHD meds.
Good on ya Dangerosa! Sometimes some kiddos need mama bear to show up and make everything better!