Hayden's First Day of School

"Come mothers and fathers all over this land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughter are beyond your command
Your old role is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand
For the times they are a changing...
Bob Dylan: The Times They are a Changing

Well, it is finally here...the day I have been dreading...we packed the car and drove Hayden to college. She did great. I can't stop crying. It is like breaking up with someone that you thought you were going to marry.....I can't picture what life is going to look like with her not in it day in and day out.....I don't even know how I will make it to bed tonight, because I have to pass her empty room, and the thought of her not in it opens the floodgate of tears. I know this should be a happy occasion because this is what we have raised her for, but I can't help thinking about what I may have forgotten to tell her, does she know how much I love her, will she be safe, did I do everything I could possibly do?

On a lighter note, things sure have changed since I moved into my dorm room 25 years ago. Every room is equipped with Internet connectivity, they have a t.v., a refrigerator, and, of course, cell phones. The dorm had "IT" guys on hand to help the kids get their computers configured to work with the North Georgia System. Maybe the biggest difference was that each girl had a "goody bag" waiting for them on their beds...one of the things included in it was, well to put it delicately, "something intended to preclude someone from getting pregnant." We will just leave it at that. THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING!!!! And on an even lighter note, I have to give Hayden "snaps" for wearing her peace shirt to the military college. That is my girl... Maggie starts preschool in T minus 17 days. Arghhhhhhh!!!!! I am not ready for all this change.