This past weekend, we moved child #2, our son Nate, into college. The next stop on his life and educational path: Drexel University.

We were all ready for this. My son is prepared for college. His high school did a great job.  His teachers supported him and pushed him. His coaches did their part. His friend group contributed. We, his parents, well, I hope we did what we had to do.

Drexel is on the quarter system, so in the fall, first-year students have to wait a bit for the term to start: This year classes start September 23. I imagine it can be nerve-wracking for some, and while my son wasn’t the most productive guy for a few weeks after many of his classmates had left for school, I think he probably did himself a solid by relaxing in anticipation of the big transition.

Despite our self-imposed complexity on move-in day, getting him into the dorms went fine. People have asked if there was any crying. There wasn’t.

(Aside: Drexel does a superb job helping students and their families on move-in day. Of course, it helps if your student actually reads their email before arriving on campus with a car full of stuff. Despite the fact that I a) already have a child in Drexel and b) work there, I appeared to be the only fool who didn’t know where to go for check-in.)

Now, of course, that may be in part because he isn’t geographically far from us–although, if he’s like my daughter, I’ll mainly hear from him when he wants a burrito. Aside from geographic proximity, we felt good and comfortable with it all. His roommate, on first blush, seems downright great, as were his parents.

I don’t want to be too blasé about it, but we’re ready for him to go into the world and make his way. That is what it is all about. We raised our kids so when the time came they would take on the next part of the journey and move out into their own spaces.

Don’t get me wrong. I love this guy, and I knew I’d miss him and his daily presence. Of course there would be moments, such as when my wife went food shopping and asked what we might need, and I thought for a moment and realized, “Well, whatever we need, we need less of it now.”

Still it’s all fine and in fact exciting.

But then the other day, while I was watching some American football, I saw a commercial for British football: It was a big game between Chelsea and Liverpool. I was looking forward to a weekend late morning during which we’d watch it together, as we often do.

Then I recalled, with a little jolt, that he was at school. For a moment, I allowed myself to think of it a little differently, not just that he was in college, but that he didn’t live here with me any longer. A small sadness drifted by me. I had to wave it away and reassure myself that, yes, we were all ready for this.

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Scott Warnock

Scott Warnock is a writer and teacher who lives in South Jersey. He is a professor of English at Drexel University, where he is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. Father of three and husband of one, Scott is president of a local high school education foundation and spent many years coaching youth sports.

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