My only child went to college last fall and I crumbled

I love learning from and talking to other parents. I just don’t like “optional parent activities.”

Last summer, IU hosted a two-day, new student orientation. I obediently did the required things, while my daughter, an incoming freshman, went to her sessions. One of the optional activities was to write a letter to your student, to be delivered their first week of school.

Before I could escape the crowded lecture hall (my bad for sitting in the front), students started passing out paper, pencils and envelopes. They played “Lean on Me.” (Seriously, IU?) They handed out tissues.

I didn’t want my kid to be the only one to not receive a letter. So I put my sunglasses on, sunk down in my chair and wrote a list of random advice.

Take an art history class.
Change your sheets once a week.
Don’t do whippets with the nerdy, charismatic guy from English class.
Study abroad at least once.
And so on….

I walked out with another mom I didn’t know. “Is my mascara running?” she asked.

I pulled my sunglasses down. “No. Is mine?”

My daughter is my only child. For a while, every time I’d drop her back off at school, I’d get into my car and cry almost all the way back to Indy.

Then she came home for a month over Christmas break. That’s when I realized we both were doing pretty well on our own. But I still love it when she calls me for random advice.

Amanda Kingsbury is the mom of an IU freshman who calls three times a week – to FaceTime the cats. You can reach Amanda (but not the cats) at amanda.kingsbury@mirrorindy.org.