It is hard
to believe that the summer has come and gone so quickly. Since Man-child’s graduation, everything has
been moving at full speed. There was
little time for fun because he worked and I was engrossed in school. Time proved that it waits for no one. In July,
he spent a a week on campus to get acquainted with dorms, placement testing, selecting a schedule and meeting advisers. He said it was no big deal but he enjoyed it.
Getting him
ready for the fall semester was difficult. There was the issue
of whether he received enough financial aid to cover it, applying for loans and
packing his things. As always, Man –child
moves at his own pace causing my anxiety level to increase. Weeks, days went by quickly and we seemed to
be at a stand-still. All I could do was
BREATH and continue to have faith.
Finally, the
week arrived for him to check into the dorm and Man-child had not packed a
thing. Everything on my list was packed
and waiting. Man-child insisted that he
had time. As a matter of fact he waited until the day he
was scheduled to move in to pack – correction to wash his clothes in order to
pack. Talk about going crazy. I should
have listened to Debbi when she said “pack the dirty clothes and keep it moving”. He moved at a snail’s pace. I sat and watched and tried to be
patient. Then it hit me – maybe, he was
nervous and was prolonging the move.
Hmmmm…… Nevertheless, he finally got it together, we packed the van and headed
to Morgan State University. Of course, he complained because I took pictures of everything but like I said, "Since I am paying for it, I can take as many pictures as I want".
Man –child is
a lot like me… he prefers to do it himself and not ask for help. He would not let me carry anything to the
room (the dorm doesn't have an elevator so he carried everything –including the
refrigerator) by himself. I tried to
help him unpack and he only fussed some more.
I laughed when we met his roommate – a Washington Redskins fan. Man child does not like football. He unpacked that HUGE computer he spent the
summer building and slowly began putting his side of the room together. I stood
in the door and watched. It was not
until he hung a picture of the Beatles on his wall that my face drew a
blank. I was speechless and so was his
roommate. I was expecting a picture of one of those
anime characters he likes or that Family Guy character that everyone thinks is
funny. I smiled. I realized then that my son was
going to be more than alright.
The first
week was difficult because he did not call at all. When he finally called, the first thing he
said was “it’s hard trying to take care of myself”. I asked if he was having any problems and he just
explained his trips to the bookstore, finding classes, remembering to eat, and
checking his email. He surprised me when
he told me he registered for work study and a mentoring group. Man child said he wanted to try to work to help with his tuition since
he did not follow through with the scholarship applications. I just smiled. I also reminded him that school is still his
first priority and the money will come.
I have miss
him being in the house and yelling at him just because I can. I miss hearing that funny Japanese music he sometimes listen to. I really miss my SON. I am even more PROUD of the young man The Creator has Blessed me with raise.
