Goodbye, Calvin

Calvin left for Kettering University in Flint, Michigan on July 1st.  Kettering has a year-round program.  He will be in classes in July-August-September and in January-February-March.  The other months are his work terms when he will be working a co-op job.  He doesn't have the job yet.  The school term is three weeks, and he is only allowed to take four classes this term.  His classes are: physics, calculus 3, computer science, and communications (writing and public speaking).  He feels very confident in all except computer science.  He says that he will have to work hard in that one because he has never taken a class in that subject.

What was it like to have my first born child leave for college?  Well...first there was phase one:  I was super happy for him to finally go to college.  He's been ready for a bigger challenge, and he's also been ready to leave behind everything but math and science.  I've been ready to get his teen-boy-who-sweats smell out of my house.  I've also been ready to give up trying to wake him up before 3pm.

(Seb is doing the Freedom Dance in the photo above.  Pompey is trying to stop Calvin from leaving.)

Phase two involved a little freaking out.  A few nights before he left, as I was going to sleep, I did my usual thing of thinking of each child and making sure that I new where they were.  I realized that soon I wouldn't know where one of my children was at every moment.  Especially at bedtime!  I had to get used to that.  

Then he left and phase three began:  My great sadness.  I did not cry, but I was so very sad.  Calvin and I spent so much of his eighteen years together.  When he was a baby, he was the only one for 19 months.  And until he could stand on his own, he wanted me to hold him so that he could straighten his legs and stand up.  We did this for hours.  When he was a little older, he talked to me non-stop.  Then I homeschooled him until he was 13.5.  That is a lot of time spent together! It was really weird not to have him around.

Calvin was in Michigan for a week before he called to talk to me.  He had just finished his first day of classes and was super happy.  He loves everything about the school: the food, the private dorm room (all dorm rooms are singles), the people, the classes.  The school seems a perfect fit for him.  So now we are in phase four, which is a great happiness that he is so happy and feels so at home.  Finally.