Weekend to remember

I just spent the weekend with my family.....away from my family. 

Huh? I know.  Let me try this again.

I left my family {one amazing husband, four adorable kids, three smelly dogs and one whinny cat} to spend the weekend with my family {two crazy sisters, three fabulous nieces}.

Make sense now?

You see, this one had to get to college.....and apparently it takes one mom, one dad, one sister, one cousin, one boyfriend, one friend and two crazy aunts to get the job done!  Who knew?   

See?  What'd I tell you. 

 I felt all sorry for those other poor whippersnappers, that only had their moms and dads in tow..... to, you know,  follow them around snapping pictures, asking annoying questions and generally embarrassing the bejeebers out of them.  I mean having a few parents there is fine.  But, having a whole entourage!  Now that's getting the job done well, folks!

It  really doesn't seem possible that she's old enough for this step.  I remember the day she was born.  I remember being in the room and leaving the room and standing outside the door just waiting to hear them to say if it was a girl or a boy!  I was in college then and now she is!  So, I absolutely could not miss watching her take off!

We got her signed in, registered, unpacked, organized and orientated.  Is that a word?  I don't know.  But, I do know that after that first day, we were all good and orientated! 

And Brooke was unpacked and organized!

How long will she stay organized?

Well, considering she left both her ID and the power cord to her laptop at home.....

Plus I've seen her room at home.

I won't stake anything on her staying organized for long!

But, that is okay.

Organizing and clean are more our schtick. 

Her bailiwick?

Artsy stuff, duh.

Hence the reason she's at SCAD.

And really, have you ever meet a neatnik artist?
Well, I haven't.

Like her mother before her.

{is it just me or does her roommate's art look like dripping blood???  I hope it's just me.  Say it's just me!!}

That said, we also got to meet her room mates. 

I'm not saying which one may or may not be fascinated with red drippy blood paint.

  Brooke is a Carolina Girl!  Her room mates are not.  One is from DC and the other from Dubai!  I think this year will be both interesting and eye opening for our girl!

The weekend was all it took to open my eyes!
I'm pretty sure my kids are never leaving home now.

All that aside, it was a great weekend.  A weekend to remember!  A weekend where we realized that Brooke really is all growed up.  She activated her electronic ID card, called maintenance for her backed-up toilet and got a coffee all by herself before joining us at the hotel one morning!  My sisters and I looked at each other, sighed and proclaimed "She's gonna make it!"   And Brianna?  Is right on her heals.  I'm just glad I'm not the mama because it was hard enough realizing these facts as the aunt!

No thanks on being the mommies!

Of these two amazing girls.  They will blow the world away, I'm sure.  But, I'd rather sit back and devise ways to lock my kiddos away for the rest of my life! Because as fun as this weekend was, it had to end.  We had to leave her alone in the big bad city.  To fend for herself.  And that was hard to do....

We drove away from that school with tears in our eyes and pride in our hearts.   Thank goodness for a backed-up toilet to reassure us that she'll be okay.  She called maintenance, y'all.  All by herself! So that totally means she's gonna make it, right?  In the big bad city.  All alone. 

Okay, fine.  Scratch the all alone part.  She texted me the first night:  I made friends and I'm going out.  And seriously.  He boyfriend is picking her up Thursday to take her back home for the weekend.  So all she's got to do is make it four whole days! 

But, we southern women are nothing if not dramatic!