It Boggles the Mind

Back when I was in college, I was introduced to the game “Boggle” by a good friend and roommate, Ken Welch. That game has been a family favorite ever since, so it was fitting that Melissa should select this game for the family to play together on this evening before she heads down to her dorm and settles into school.

A few days ago I mentioned my “Lamentations of a First-time College Dad”, and it has been happening in slow-motion through the past several days. Tonight it’s official — she’s off to college. It’s hard to believe (boggling, even) and yet she is so ready for this. Now we get to go through our big adjustment.

We thought about taking the leaf out of the dinner table, and one of her brothers wanted to “claim” some things in her room. I think none of those things will be happening. Instead, I’m thinking we could set up a shrine in the house. We could put a framed picture of her and put that at her place-setting at the table — that and candles, which we could light at each meal. We could play Mika and Queen songs throughout the house each evening between dinner and bed time. We could leave “X-Files” DVDs playing in our AV room, 24x7. We could do all of that, but I think we won’t do those things, either.

No, I think we’ll just quietly miss her. We’ll think about her often through each day, we’ll pray for her, we’ll hope for and with her, and we’ll delight in receiving e-mails, phone calls, instant messages, blog postings, and comments on this blog (hint, hint). And, of course, we’ll greatly look forward to the next time we get together. The separation has been and will continue to be gradual, but we’re going to miss more and more of her life as she flies out of this nest and soars on her own.

We love you, Melissa! Go get ‘em!

Notice how I didn’t post any of the obligatory first-day-of-school photos that we kind of did on the driveway tonight — I think I get points for that kind of restraint!