She Is

Credit: Ann Taylor-Schmidt / Penn State

Mission accomplished! After a year of college visits, financial aid forms, budgeting, and bird-dogging Sarah, it's up to her now. And she seems more than ready to be on her own.

I spent the last couple of months researching and purchasing items for her dorm room, and trying not to get swept up in the collegiate Momiverse of Woozoo fans, blue bags, and Hulken totes. (Okay, I did buy the first two, but the last was a bridge too far.)

Meanwhile, Sarah focused on work, fitness, and friends. After getting a late start, she rallied in the work arena, slinging mainstream donuts and drinks at Dunkin and artisanal chocolate, coffee, and baked goods at Tangle.

As far as I could tell, she didn't give college much thought until the beginning of August. I'm a planner; she's a procrastinator ... just one way we differ.

She left clothes packing until the day before we hit the road for Penn State, and then she went whole hog: no fewer than 25 pairs of shorts, a dozen sweatshirts, 16 pairs of jeans/pants, half a dozen jackets ... By going through each item to vote yes or no, I managed to get her to cull it by about a third.

We ordered Chinese food for her last dinner at home and gave her the Abby pillow I ordered on Etsy. 

Miraculously, everything fit in the truck, and we left for State College at 8:30 Wednesday morning, dropping Abby off at Grammy's on the way. 

We took the Taconic Parkway to I-84, avoiding the worst of the heavy traffic through Connecticut but still had to brave I-81 through Scranton. We arrived in State College around 4 p.m., passing Beaver Stadium on the way to our hotel.

We ate dinner at Triplett's at the Nittany Lion Inn, enjoying truffle fries (for the first time -- decadent!) and hearty sandwiches. Although none of us needed dessert, we couldn't pass up ice cream at Berkey Creamery: butter pecan for Don, Happy Happy Joy Joy (coconut, almond, chocolate chip) for me, and black raspberry for Sarah. The servings are enormous!

Thursday morning, we arrived a bit early for our 9 a.m. move-in slot and were greeted by a friendly crew of staff and students who directed us to a small parking lot near Sarah's dorm. It was just starting to rain. Two trips with the provided rolling bins was all it took. Sarah's roommate, Kyah, had moved in the day before and had the furniture arranged, but we needed to raise the bed.

While Don and Sarah unpacked, I moved the truck to a lot on the edge of campus, by the football stadium, and took a shuttle back to the dorm. By then, the rain was steady, and I felt bad for those moving in later in the day. A bit more setting up, and Sarah was ready for us to hit the road. 

We left a little before noon and took a route Google Maps suggested, north on state highways to I-86 and I-88 in southern New York, then up to Albany. The rural roads were a bit fiddly, but I-88 was a dream -- few semis and little traffic overall. It sure beat I-81 and I-84 and took about the same amount of time (7 hours).

Sarah seemed a bit overwhelmed, but not unhappy, when we left. She's ready for this, and she'll have Abby to comfort her when necessary. I believe she's in the right place, and I can't wait to see what she does. I just hope she'll send updates once in a while.