Orientation

I took my youngest to college orientation on Sunday and spent 2.5 days in a beautiful town South of Ohio. I brought my laptop with me thinking I'd be able to unwind in the hotel and publish a few posts since I have some updates, but I infact had ZERO time during those 2.5 days.

We got down there mid-afternoon on Sunday and went straight to the hotel. I unpacked our stuff and left for dinner and a quick walmart trip. My BEB was exhausted and didn't want to be out late, plus we had to get up at 5am to be at campus by 7am. We had a full day of adventures on Monday so we needed our rest.

We stopped to get breakfast before checking-in for orientation. For those of you who knows me, know I don't travel well. If I ever got stuck in a paperbag, send the troops looking for me, cause I guarantee I won't be able to find my way out. I got hemmed up in a turnabout and missed my exit three different times. I've had my fair share of turnabout experiences, but this one, this one was insane. Every single car is ZOOMING past. It was so close together it was difficult to merge in without cutting someone off and causing an accident. After the thrid time driving around I took an exit and let my GPS re-route!

By the grace of God we made it to the parking lot with minutes to spare. I wait a little bit to find other people who adult better than I so I can follow their lead. I yell at my BEB to lets go as I see a whole family headed towards a green tent. If I speed walk I can catch up and they won't even know I'm behind them. We trailed behind and made it to our destination. We checked in and got our itinerary for the day with these cute little name tags (I'm assuming the adults got one just in case they got lost).

We're together for the first two sessions before breaking the parents and students up. I was excited for her, but nervous for me as I didn't have another person to converse with. I head into the next session (luckily in the same building) which discussed "college planning and how to help your student prepare". The first presentation made me cry, I had to dig my nail into my leg to get me to stop before people judged! This is it, my mini-me is off to college. She doesn't need her mama any more.

It's 12:35pm and the parents break for lunch. I follow the groups to the dinning hall, but sit outside trying to find other adults smoking. Red just went 6 hours without a cigarette and the withdraw sweats are coming out (I'm kidding it wasn't that bad). I start to walk off as if I'm in high school trying to sneak a puff. As I turn to the path I want to walk down I am hit with the smell of cigarette smoke! I turn back around and BAM, another mom is smoking right outside the dinning hall. I casually light mine.

Now this is where it gets wild! After I took a puff, I, RED, engaged in a conversation with her! HELLO, who am I? Red, engaging in conversations! Never in the 39 years I've been able to speak have ever approached another human with words! I'm in a different town and a whole different person comes out! Look out peeps, I might be evolving!

I still have 50 minutes to kill and didn't want to be overcrowded in the dinning hall so I decided to take a tour of campus. I take a path and walk it until it ends. I'm enjoying nature and all of the beautiful scenery. I finally look up to see where I am, and I'm in instant panic mode! I'm freaking lost! I have no idea where I am, nothing looks familiar, and I don't see ANOTHER ADULT ANY WHERE!! I can't even sneak up behind someone and follow them back to my designated parent meeting!

I start to head back down the way I came, but instead of just following it straight down I take a short-cut and opt for the path to the left. I walk for what seems like eternity. I'm taking every short cut I could find thinking it'll be quicker and I won't miss the next session. Wrong, freaking wrong! I am so lost at this point all I could do was laugh. I called a few people so when cars drove past it wasn't so obvious that I was aimlessly walking around.

No joke, after 40 minutes I finally saw a landmark that looked familar and opted for that route. Guess what? That route came with a hill and a steep one at that! I'm late at this point so I took the hill. At one point I saw my life flash before me. I was half way up the hill fighting for my life. I was gasping for air, couldn't catch my breath. The sweat was pouring down my face, I now can't see because the sweat is getting in my eyeballs! The back of my shirt is soaked and if I walk into this next parent session people are legit going to think I just ran a 5k marathon, or got attacked by a bear.

I made it up the hill but needed to take some time before I attempted the steps. I felt like Rocky Balboa wiping the sweat from my face and looking at my next obstacle to conquer. All I needed was the backround music and I would have been hyped! My breathing was back to normal and I wiped the sweat from my face and entered the doors of chaos.

I spent the last two hours in the same room, thank gosh! Once our presentation was over we were able to meet up with our kids. I, of course followed the majority of parents in hopes I would come across mine some where. I was texting her but it appears we are both directionally inclined. We finally connect and are able to leave for a few hours. We keep walking the path we're already on, get 10 minutes in and I yelled "oh my gosh I don't know where the car is".

Luckily my kids are pretty smart! My BEB said "i'll find it on MAPS". Wait, what? So then I said "SIRI FIND MY CAR" and SIRI said "finding car". SIRI gave me walking directions back to my beautiful blue honda! I wish I would have thought of that during the first half of my day!! How did I end up 2 miles away from my car, and why is campus so big!!

Day one of orientation was epic, comical, yet exhausting. With our two hour break from 5-7 we managed to get dinner in before going back for the student only session. I dropped her off and went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for bed. I went back to pick her and with me being early I just sat in the car on the phone.

It was 8:10p and she text me "we have to stay until 9pm now I'm so tired". There was no way I was driving back to the hotel to wait so I stayed in parking space and jammed out. I noticed a woman approaching my car, but I didn't look up to make eye contact. She said "excuse me" and it caught my attention. I looked up and this woman who appeared to be worn out mentally and emotionally was telling me she left her phone in the hotel and thought the session was over at 8pm and she wanted to check on her son.

I told her it was until 9pm now that my daughter just text me to let me know. She said "oh okay good I didn't want to miss him". I could see the tears in her eyes. I asked her what was going on and she said "I ruined his day it was a perfect day and I ruined it". She explained what happened and my heart broke. It wasn't a big deal at all, but to her it was. She started to cry and at that moment I knew exactly how she felt. She was a single mom doing her best for her son. Something told me to stay in that parking lot, and I'm glad I did!

I saw her this morning walking to the parent portion of orientation but didn't get to catch up with her. I did text her today to let her know I enjoyed talking to her and even though were a few hours away she could always reach out! I met another single mom friend and she was NORMAL like me! LOL

I am home, in bed and my BEB instantly ran to her BFF's house. Godforbid they spend a few days away from each other! Ehhh. Kidding, BEB, KIDDING!!

Althought my BEB and I were anxious for this trip, not knowing what to expect. I truly had the best 2.5 days with her walking 40 miles around campus. It's definitely a fun experience! Pray for me during these next few months, I'm going to be a total mess!