Friday: 10:38 PM

I am too tired to post a picture, even if I had one.
So, a short synopsis of the day: (Well it turned into a long synopsis)

1. 5:30 AM - trip to William & Mary from Virginia Beach - 50 minutes
2. 6:45 AM - walk into IHOP for breakfast. The Nys has her favorite "Chocolate Chip Pancakes", these tend to gag me. The place is overwhelmed with college students. Resident Assistants eating breakfast, colorful t-shirts indicating which dorm group they belong to. One small group of guys who were thin, lanky and slight of frame had bright blue t-shirts with "Sweating for You" written in bright yellow across the back. These are designated move-in helpers to carry boxes, trunks, refrigerators and more up to the third floor. They cater to freshmen however.
3. 7:30 AM - park in Hughes parking lot. Construction is still going on. The road has potholes from the equipment and it has rained, filling the holes with water. My van is prone to getting stuck. I bravely go through these anyway. Now my van looks like it has been white washed by Tom Sawyer. In the parking lot we discover that check-in is in Munford Hall, next door, down the street, we must walk. Outside there is a slight breeze, inside it is hot. They are not ready. "Give us a few minutes. We will try to start early."
   
4. 8:05 AM - exactly five minutes late, the check in begins, the flow of money to the school continues, $20 for a dorm janitorial fee on top of previous deposits. Get the key. Go check out the room. It is very, very, very small. Two windows, bunked beds, one built in closet, one wardrobe, one built in chest of drawers, one free standing, two desks and two chairs in a 12 x 12 foot room. But, it has a suite bath.
5. 8:06 AM- let the games begin. I know at once that everything in the van will not go in this room, not with a roommate as well. What can we take back to the storage unit? The desk chair is the first too bulky item to go. Then the trunk, only limited linens transferred to the underbed storage box. The metal roll around storage bin is next and then the capuccino machine and most of the kitchen utensils along with the box of decorations and the floor lamp. In the end at least one third of the contents of my van are returning with me.
6. 8:30 AM - we have managed to get the van closer to the door of the dorm. We are nowhere near unloaded. It is now raining, hard. Rain from 8:30 AM until 1:00 PM. Good. Bicycle is in outdoor rack (no room in room) at least the lock works. It will now rust again.
7. 11:00 AM - I have made too many trips up the stairs and my knee hurts, my face is red, I have sweated myself to nothingness and my clothes are plastered to my skin. But the top bunk is made, the fridge is in place and cooling ginger ale, and the hang up clothes are in the closet with the shoes, ironing board and laundry supplies. Nyssa has taken a bath.
   
8. 11:30 AM - drop her off for short orientation transfer meeting. Takes her ten minutes. She gets a huge green package of material and is to be back here at 1:30 PM. The transfers will walk together (in the rain) to the welcoming address of the college president and begin the afternoon of meetings, information and get-to-know-each-other mixers.
9. 11:45 AM - pick her back up and go to register her car. Because her dorm is 3 miles off campus she may have a car as a sophomore...for the small registration sum of $205. At Sewanee, in the boonies, it was $25. More money flowing out. But it is done. Something about two stickers. Don't forget to put them on the car in the morning, Nyssa.
10. 12:00 PM - get drive through lunch. Sit in van in rain and eat. Back to dorm where I put all the suitcase clothes in the chest of drawers and try to wash up, change clothes and make my now dripping wet mass of short curls smooth again. Oh, yes, the clean pants I want to put on fell in a puddle of water on the way in....good thing I have lightning fast reflexes even at this age....just a couple of damp, gravel gray spots. Nyssa unpacks and validates computer and gets small microwave on top of fridge.
11. 1:30 PM - I drop her off at the student union. It is here we say good-bye. I don't understand how they expect parents who have moved their kids into dorms all morning in 85 degree temps with 115% humidity are expected to look or smell decent enough to attend a welcoming convocation by the president with their students. I look over the family orientation meeting schedule and see that it is almost identical to those I attended last year at Sewanee. Most are for freshman, first time away from home type kids and parents and I decide not to go. So, I'm sent on an errand to get a bathmat, bathroom rug and shower caddy at Target. I am to leave these in her anteroom at the dorm and then I will be heading back to Virginia Beach. This is good-bye. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks" she says as she gets out of the van. "Bye-Bye, love you." And that is that.
12. 2:00 PM - I have found Target. I found my e-mail from Sal and call. She and Bump will meet me at a nearby Starbucks in 20 minutes. For once I get in and out of Target in record time. Mission accomplished.
13. 2:20 - 3:30 PM (or so) - I finally meet Sal. She is lovely. Her little Bump has wide round eyes and an appetite for muffins. I wish I had a little truck for him. He is such a little gentleman during our visit. This part of my day allowed for a little rest, and this is the first blogger buddy I have met in person. I enjoyed our time.
14. 3:30 PM - back to dorm, leave packages and a little card for Nyssa. The rain has ended. It is now just hot and humid. Time to go.
15. 4:15 PM - leave Williamsburg.
    
16. 6:45 PM - pull into driveway in Virginia Beach. The trip that this morning took 50 minutes has taken 2 hours and 30 minutes. There were several "pockets of stupidity", those areas where it is just stop and go for no reason at all; they seem to come up quickly and after 15 or so minutes of a snail's pace they go away just as suddenly. There was one real wreck and a couple of stalled cars to the roadside. Of course the usual four lanes going into two slow down and then just before the tunnel it stopped completely for five minutes. All in all the worst part was the three miles just prior to the tunnel. That stretch took 40 minutes.
17. That's it. I'm here. She is there. I am too tired to unload and reassemble the mess in the back of the van. I really am too old for days like today. (Except for seeing Sal, I could do that everyday)
18. PS: She called; full of excitement. "Oh! Mom, I met so many completely cool people today. I didn't meet anyone who was stuck up and everyone was so friendly. And the president is so good. We learned to sing the Alma Mater and it is so beautiful. Then we went to the president's office later and sang it to him. It is a tradition every year, he pretends to work late and pretends not to know they will come and the classes sing and he comes out to say hello. ........ She is happy. She is busy. She is a happy tired. She is taking another shower. (Why does that not surprise me) Her roommate (apparently not a transfer student) will probably be there tomorrow. I think she feels like she is finally home.