Before She Goes Off To College

In just a couple of short years, my eldest child, K, will be a college freshman. ZOINKS! And even though most of the schools she is considering are on the Right East Coast, I'm starting to prepare all of us for her departure.

Her 1st birthday; Hornell, NY

I need N to be more independent of her older sister and take charge around the house more. I need K to be fully prepared to cook her own meals, wash her own clothes and avoid dangerous situations college freshmen get into as much as possible. And I need to be at peace with the fact that she'll soon be an adult who will make mistakes I cannot prevent. And also that she's not my chunky little K-Bear anymore ::weeps into keyboard::

To that end, I've been looking for ways to spend one-on-one time with each kid, starting with K. They both have different core interests so it's easy to split this us: K likes artsy, showy things; N prefers sporty and crafty things.

Wicked fanatic

Last month I took K to see the Broadway musical "Wicked" as her belated Christmas gift. Not only did we take in a show, we took advantage of Restaurant Week in Manhattan and had a pre-theater grubfest at Le Cirque. And if you're sitting there thinking the word grubfest shouldn't be in the same sentence with Le Cirque, you're right. That place is faaa-aaan-CEE! So we dressed up. As in real shoes and makeup and combed hair. It was the most amazing production I've seen since "West Side Story" and "Chicago" and "The Lion King". I mean, y'all just have to go see it. We're going again in October so maybe you should come with us?

Two WOTLESS gyals

And just this Friday, I took K to her first concert (according to her, but really her first concert was Michelle Branch, Gavin Degraw and this other guy I can't recall Joe Firstman; she just refuses to acknowledge it because it was at Manhattan College and not at a real concert venue). We reveled in the soca greatness that is Kes the Band, David Rudder, Swappi and Benjai. OH WHAT FUN WE HAD!! So much so that we'll be seeing Kes again in September.



For N, I've already plotted out which baseball and basketball games I will be taking her to, as well as trips to go rockwall climbing and to the bookmaking workshops at Michael's (it's an art store here in NYC. Do y'all have those?).

Before I know it this time will slip away from me and BOTH my babies will be gone. My plan here is to make the most of it, plant some seeds of hidden wisdom and then sit back and watch my babies bloom into womanhood with great heads on their shoulders. So far, so good. I'm going broke with all these fancy dinners and shows and trips out of the country but in the end I know it will be worth it.

I mean, you can't take it with you, right? The memories, however, will last a lifetime.

*smooches...just realizing my babies aren't babies*
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now please excuse me while I go somewhere to look at their old pictures and sob inconsolably.