3.... 2.... 1....

Tomorrow is the big day! The Boy is all packed. We dug out the old microwave and cleaned it up to take with him. We've been doing laundry all day so he can start out with clean bedding, towels, and clothes. We've made a pretty long list of odds and ends to buy at Target when we get there. We've gotten all of the details settled for his daily college life. Tomorrow we load the car and drive to the dorms. Oh scary!

All of this brings back the memories of when I was young and was packing up my parents' car to drive to my new college life. I don't exactly remember packing. I remember the drive up, feeling so odd. I remember moving into my new room and meeting my roommate. I remember the first few days of feeling awkward and out of place, not really knowing how to act, what to do, trying to be so grown up but feeling like I'm just pretending. I wonder if it will be the same for The Boy.

I wonder to how life will change over the next few years for The Boy... and me too. When I was first starting college, I had such plans. I was an international business major. I wanted to spend a year studying abroad. I was going to be an international attache, a human resource specialist on a global scale. I think I would have been good at it, too. But, all my plans were not what came about.

Winter break of my sophomore year I got pregnant by my boyfriend of one year. Two months later I found out I got accepted to the University of Salzburg, Austria, but I turned it down to have the baby. Living in a big city to work for a company who would need an international business major didn't seem the best for having a young family. For that matter, international business was not conducive to being a mother. I changed my major to education and decided teaching was the best thing for raising a child. I tried to do the "right thing" I was taught in my Christian upbringing. So, I married The Boy's father. That was a BIG mistake (and a long story for another time).

I'm not complaining. I've done very well for myself. I have my Master's degree. I have a very good career I enjoy; I work with an excellent staff. I have a home and I am comfortable. I can take care of myself and my son without any trouble. My son has turned out to be a great young man. Even though it's not the life I imagined, it's a very good life.

For The Boy, however, he has big dreams and plans. He has his whole college career and life thereafter mapped out. I hope he doesn't get waylaid like I did. I hope he gets what he wants and dreams of.