Noah left for college today.  After 18 years of having the guy around, we are going to have to adjust to a new chapter in our lives.  Nathan and I are so excited (and maybe a little jealous) for Noah.  He is starting his new chapter in Lawrence, Kansas, at the University of Kansas (our favorite University).

This change has left me feeling unsettled.  For example, I sometimes cry out of the blue.  Like when I was shopping at Schnucks a few days ago and started tearing up and then saw my friend Aryn and started seriously crying.  Kind of embarrassing…but Aryn gave me a really good hug so that helped.

Nathan and I obviously remember the day that he was born…and those memories are still so vivid.  We have had the baby, toddler, boy and now man living in our house, sharing family dinners, going on trips, making us laugh, beating us at four square and being part of our T4 clan for a very long time.  Not having him around is going to be strange.

Here are some memories that have been popping into our minds:

• Nathan and I remember when Noah was 3 and he declared that I hurt his feelings and then pointed to his left shoulder.  He thought his feelings were located on his shoulder.
• We remember when Noah used to call the TV remote the frrrrromote.  We still add the F to the front of remote for old times sake.
• We remember when he was terrified that a leprechaun was really coming to Little Lambs Preschool.  Nathan and I made the tough decision to send him to preschool despite his fears on March 17th that year…and he came home all smiles with tales of the leprechaun mischief that occured at the preschool.
• We remember Halloween costumes…fireman, green power ranger, Batman, Superman, Boba Fett, S.W.A.T. team and then just scary masks.
• We remember when he would ask to sit in his Grandpa’s truck and pretend to drive.
• We remember when he had tea parties with his grandma and aunts.
• We remember his first tee ball game when he hit the ball to the fence and thought he should get to run all of the bases.
• We remember in 3rd grade when his teacher told us that Noah raced at every test and slammed his paper on her desk to be first…and so we told him to slow down…and he wrote in the corner of his next test “slow down” as a reminder to himself.
• We remember all of the vacations when he was in awe of the beaches and the cities.
• We remember walking down to Phantom Ranch at the Grand Canyon and his high of the day was “the great nap he had in the air conditioned bunk room.”
• We remember sitting through countless baseball games and enjoying so many wins and surviving so many losses.  We remember our stomachs in knots when he was on the pitching mound.  We remember Noah pitching a no hitter.  We remember Noah striking out and hitting home runs.

There are so many memories, and we can’t wait to hear about all of Noah’s new adventures at KU.

As my sister likes to remind me and misquote, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

In summary, he better text his mother.