Letting Go

We took Garrett to school last week. It was a very exciting and gut wrenching time. I almost didn't get to go. I was very torn. Lydia was still getting started in school. We were leaving on her first full day. And with the other kids activities there was a lot going on. But a kind friend offered to take the little ones even though she has a new baby herself and another friend offered to help. I ended up going. It was hard to leave them with all those responsibilities but I am so glad I got to go. It is important for my own mental health to be there and see for myself where he is and know he is okay. Doesn't really make sense but it works for me. One of the saddest parts was watching him say goodbye to his friends. He has been blessed with a lot of good friends. Ethan and Michael came to say goodbye. They stayed and watched as we drove away.

So we had to wait in this long slow line to get him checked in to his apartment. I'm still not sure why. It was always very fast for Samantha to check in to her apartments. So while we are standing in this line forever we notice this cowboy family a few people ahead. Everyone is majorly dressed in their John Deere finest. Todd notices that the boy has a knife clipped to his pocket. So he quietly asks Garrett if he thinks it's against the honor code to have a knife on campus. Garrett looks over there and says, "Not if you're Buffalo Bill". So we finally get to his apartment excited to see who he will be living with. No one is there but one person's luggage is in the back bedroom. Here is what we saw.
Garrett gets this serious look on his face and says,"Buffalo Bill is my roommate." It was funny but no worries, he likes his new cowboy friend.

All the apartments in this complex got new furniture. The beds are up high with desks underneath, very space saving. The new couches are so hard they feel like there is wood and no cushion. Here is Garrett trying to break them in a little.

So after the apartment tour we went over to check out the campus. They are constantly doing construction on this school. About three minutes after we walked on campus I turned around and Garret was hugging a girl. We just happened to run into a girl from our stake that was his "sister" on the trek last year. She lives at the other end of the stake about an hour away so they don't see each much around here. So went and saw all his classes and bought all his books at the bookstore (saw more people we know). We went to Idaho Falls and did all his shopping in order to miss the mad rush. Then we went out to dinner. It was so nice to have that time with just us and him alone. We came back and, with the help of the only roommate that was there that night, we got his cupboards stocked and all other stuff moved into his room and his bed made. Then came the hard part--saying goodbye. I think I did pretty well. I got all my crying out earlier. We went back to IF where our hotel was and left early the next morning.
The next day while we cried our way home, Garrett had lots of activities to welcome the freshman to campus. While walking to the barbecue lunch a girl walks up to him and says,"Your Cookie's son aren't you?" It was the daughter of my really good friend from Ohio. They used to play together and went to Kindergarten together. Now here they are going to school together again. I love it when stuff like that happens.
The next day he was walking with one of his roommates and his twin sister and their cousin. The cousin asked Garrett where he was from. When he told her she asked what his last name was. When he told her that she said, "I was your sister's roommate last semester! I heard you dedicate a song to her on your radio show." So many coincidences! So he went and watched a fireside with Sam's old roommates at her old apartment that night. Here's another coincidence. Garrett's roommate in his room was the last to arrive. Turns out his name is Dallin. He is a recent return missionary. So recent that the day we drove there he was still on his mission. Garrett likes all his roommates and is enjoying his classes so far. Here he is in his kitchen just before we left. I wonder if it is still this clean.

Now I am left here with only four kids. I always liked the feeling of locking the door for the night knowing my kids were all safely home. Now I don't get that feeling. It's kinda sad.

In other letting go news. Lydia is enjoying kindergarten. But she is suddenly a little more grown up. It is no longer cool to hold my hand in public. She can most definitely get off the bus by herself! But if I am not right there to tell her to get off the bus she will ride it around town for a while. The kindly bus driver delivered her safely back home. I work in her class once a week and today was the first day. Eli got to come and loved it. But when it was time to go home at the end of the day I made Lydia come home with me. I wasn't sure if I would make it home before the bus. And we know what happens then. She was mad at me all day because she didn't get to ride the bus home.
Speaking of holding hands, Eli told me that he can't be a red, good spiderman (he always has to use those descriptive words) for Halloween because when he holds my hand it will stick to it and get it all red. Well at least someone still wants to hold my hand.

I realize probably no one actually reads all the way through my looooong posts but I am long winded and I want to remember this stuff.