Seventeen Years of Emily -- Part 2

It's the night before our oldest child's 18th birthday...and she's not home. It's the first time in her whole life that she won't wake up in her own bed for her special day.

To be honest, it's a little odd...and a little sad.

But sad doesn't mean it's not right. She's in college, after all.

Part of living at college is being away from home, even during those special moments you've always celebrated at home.

I remember the first birthday I woke up in a different place... I was also a freshman at college, though I'd taken two years off to live in England with my parents. I turned 20.

I felt it was probably one of the most depressing parts of "growing up." Being alone on your birthday? Well, alone in a dorm is a little different than actually being alone. Although, I felt I might as well be alone to start with...no one really recognized that it was my birthday. Of course, I had my 21st birthday and my 22nd birthday...and my 23rd birthday at college, too. But by then I was more used to it...and had a few friends to celebrate it with.

I celebrated my 24th birthday in Honesdale, Pa., during my employment with Highlights for Children. Actually, that year is a bit of a blur since Stuart had a horrible accident that month and ended up in the hospital for nearly three weeks, and I had to go represent HFC's book side, Boyds Mills Press, at library book conferences in Harrisburg, Williamsburg, and Syracuse.

By my 25th birthday, I worked for the Reading Eagle and had to take off for my birthday. It was a company rule. You had to take a personal day for your birthday and one for your work anniversary, unless you were married and then it was your wedding anniversary.

That was the year "Birthday Adventures" were born. It wasn't elaborate or even very memorable, but I remember doing something different that year, like taking a bubble bath and getting a bunch of library books...and just relaxing.

I know that Emily will be a little bit sad to be away from home on her actual birthday. We'll head over to steal her away from campus later in the day after her classes. But she's growing up and spreading her wings and experiencing life in a whole new way.

And it may not necessary feel good...but it's right.

Sleep well, sweet girl. We are dreaming of you always.

We Are Family

Saturday, we spent the day with Emily at Albright College for Family Day, ie. Feast Day...er, I mean, spending two hours in the cafeteria...uh, no...spending time with our student.

 

It was fun having a more in-depth tour and seeing into Emily's classrooms and where she's been hanging out while at college. I loved seeing all the families who came in to shower love on their students. One family even brought homemade food for their son. He looked thrilled to devour it all.

 

 

Traditions of Love Lit-Tea-really!

Tradition! Tradition! Tradition! [Click here for a video of this famous song of the same name from "Fiddler on the Roof."]

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love traditions. It's no surprise that I suggested and am working on a story for the Mature Living section of the local newspaper about how important traditions are and how to make them.

But as much as I love them, I know firsthand how incredibly hard they can be to keep going, especially with family dynamics constantly changing and growing.

Therefore, today's "Throwback Thursday" is brought to you by a wonderful tradition we've managed to keep, and Albright College, Ernest Hemingway, Starbucks, and Little Debbie's pumpkin cookies.

It's a little bit of an upgrade since kindergarten...with stories by the Brothers Grimm, milk tea, and pumpkin cookies.

But time shared together -- with books and "tea" -- always makes memories and traditions that are just as sweet!

Saturday Sweetheart

Today, our daughter had an interview for a fairly sizable scholarship for a university she's interested in going to. (I say "fairly sizable," but it was in fact for more money than our house cost when we bought it.) She was incredibly nervous beforehand...and VERY relieved when it was all said and done. She won't hear if she got it until mid-February.

But the amount of the scholarship dims in comparison to the amount of excitement and pride we felt for this girl today. It was amazing to watch her walk away with the scholarship interview staff, looking all collegiate, and think about how fast it's all going...and how she's looking at which colleges she might like to attend next Fall....and how is that even possible? Wasn't I just in college? Wasn't she just born?

"How can we be at this point?" I asked my hubby.

However, we are at this point. And it's all exciting and sweet and daunting and joyous and amazing and scary rolled into one.

All Is Bright

So this happened today:

Emily had her first college (interchangeable with university over here) interview today at Albright College, her first choice of places to get her degree. 

Sur-real to the max. 

Here's hoping they accept her and give her a full-ride scholarship. That would be awesome!

We had to get a snack at Jake's Java afterwards. It's a tradition. *wink-grin*