Wait, where…?

Thanks to the pandemic, living your best life was hard for everybody – especially students.

Our college girl/kid lasted 1.5-2 months before she came home from campus and refused to go back. All of her classes were online. Club meetups were online. Sporting events were restricted. She wasn’t meeting people and couldn’t hang out. She finished her first semester as a college student at home, and all of her second semester here.

Soooo… our emptynesters status lasted for all of about a hot second. Like a reallllllly quick second.

Just as her plans for an amazing freshman year were thwarted, so were our plans to travel and deep dive into couplehood, marriage, and ourselves as individuals in a way we haven’t been able to do over the past 20-plus years while focusing on children and parenting.

But… (yes, there’s a but)! Our daughter spent her time at home thinking about what she really wants, in a way she didn’t do before graduating high school and thinking about life plans. Time at home allowed her to reset her mindset and develop her master plan.

Remember those college visits we made over a year ago? Yeah, she still couldn’t see herself on any of those campuses.

What she could see, though, was a place she believed would be a better fit for her and her goals. She’s heading south. Like, almost as far south as she can get and still be in the contiguous United States. (I’m really trying not to take it personally, y’all!)

When August rolled around and it’s time for us to drop her off at school, she’ll stick longer than 2 months because she’s excited and ready to get started. Wouldn’t you be if you were going to school in Miami? (Not the 45056, sadly. #LoveAndHonor!)

Easing my heart, we have great friends in the city who will look out for our baby as if she’s their own child. Major shoutout to vacation friends who become family! (Or: we are so blessed to have vacation friends who have become family.)

As a Miami University grad, it pains me to say this, but as a mom who wants her child to be happy and to determine what that looks like, all I can say is this: go ‘Canes!