Yet another move in day

This weekend we attended yet another college move in day, this time for my niece, who is starting her freshman year at the school on the hill across town from my daughter's school. She's going to the same college from which two of her older cousins graduated, one of them my son. My girl is excited beyond belief to have her "little cousin" so close by. They'll overlap for only one year, as my daughter starts her senior year this week. We also delivered my girl back to her school, although it didn't entail the usual fanfare of getting her stuff out of storage as she is living in the same house she lived in last year, and most of the summer just past. She has two new roommates and the atmosphere seems lovely. We did take her shopping for groceries and supplies to help set her up for the semester. My niece's parents did the same shopping run. 

There were so many of us in my niece's dorm room helping her get set up. Her dad and her uncle, once they had delivered the suitcases and trunks and bins, elected to wait outside, so it she had her mother, two aunts, a sister and a cousin, all offering suggestions on where to put what. I must say my niece was remarkably composed and in charge, allowing us all to help her unpack but being very clear on how she wanted to set up the room. I was impressed. Her room looks fabulous, with a purple, pink and blue color scheme—girls are so different from boys when it comes to these things. Or rather, the girls in my family are much different from my son, who pretty much just deposited his things in the dresser and closet, made the bed, and was good to go. There was no sense of decorating the space at all.

We had lots of laughs, and my other niece, who had wanted to make the trip but couldn't in the end, texted us to please stop having fun without her. In response my nieces and daughter sent her even more videos and snapchats of the fun. My daughter, husband and I then left to get brunch with my daughter's bf's family, and then we all went back to her house to meet up with our cousins, so everybody could meet everybody. It was very festive and happy. At last we all hugged the college kids and told them to have a good year and to take care of one another, and then we got into our respective cars and hit the road back to the city, leaving them to enjoy what we fondly remember as perhaps the most carefree time of our lives.

I wonder if the college kids know how relatively unencumbered they are right now? I don't think so. Which is as it should be. Everything in its turn. Here are some random pics from the weekend just past.

This weekend was also the 29th wedding anniversary for my husband and me. We've gotten very accommodated to delivering children to college on our anniversary and spending the night in a hotel room. Unlike last year, this hotel room was the bare minimum, but my husband gave me the most wonderful gift, a pair of teardrop shaped gold earnings with an amethyst stone, my mother's birthstone. He said, "It's your first anniversary without your mom and I thought you would like having earrings with her birthstone." They are perfect. Even though I sobbed when I saw them, wearing them makes me smile.