We’re getting closer and closer to our first born leaving the nest. I’ve been cleaning out stuffed animals and selling all of my girls’ hair bows. Insert lots of tears right here!! These are the little things that get me. For most, it’s a relief to be rid of old things, but for this sentimental mom, it’s a reminder that they’re one step closer to adulthood. I clearly had a hair accessory buying addiction by the way…HOLY COW!
Morgan has already received some college prep gifts for Christmas…a laundry bag and other coordinating bags that I can already envision being stuffed to the max and dropped in the kitchen floor on her breaks from college. Might as well make them cute bags, I figure. We’ve done a lot of work in the basement making her a space perfect for her time at home. Some would say that is a little backwards. I mean she will be here less and less but in my mom brain it just makes sense for her to have a place she wants to come back to for visits! She will have some privacy, her own bathroom, and a window well that’s adorable and we’ve finally got it decorated wonderfully “MoMo.” She’s one lucky almost-college girl, I’d say!
How cute is her bathroom!?!
Her goal was to get this heart picture wall done before the end of winter break. So at the very final hours, with help from the rest of the fam, it’s complete! 171 pictures. 13% of them, Drew is in (he counted of course)…he’s a stats man!
Most college visits have been postponed, admission requirements changed, and college students are navigating online classes and closed residence/dining halls. All of this due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ongoing nuisance that we’re all wondering if it will ever go away. Nuisance is actually the understatement of the century, it’s been an absolute abomination of evil. But, we are plugging along here and doing what we can to keep our lives on track for our kids and our community. Some have received the vaccine, including front line workers and those in assisted living facilities (including my Grammy and my Father-in-Law). My parents are clamoring to get theirs. And some of us in the family have had the virus and recovered.
We’ve gotten to finally do some campus tours with Morgan and it’s been so fun to experience this with her! She has two really solid universities in mind, the University of Arkansas and Kansas State University. Both of them have their pros and cons and the choice is a hard one! With her fantastic grades, she has qualified for 90% in-state tuition at Arkansas and qualifies for the Honors College. Actually, our mailbox is full of every day of schools wanting her — who wouldn’t!? Any university would be lucky to have this gem on their campus. She’s bright, beautiful, fun, courageous, out going, kind, and so many other things. My dad is still hoping she goes somewhere to play golf, which she absolutely could do, but the one decision she has made is she does not want to pursue college athletics. She just wants to focus on being a normal college student. Sorry Papa!
While we were at Arkansas we spent the evening driving around and exploring. We luckily got a tour of the Pi Phi house and all of our jaws were on the floor. What an incredible sight! I would move in there tomorrow if I was a college girl. Actually, one of them thought I was a senior, so maybe I could sneak in!? I loved my college days! We ate at a recommended dinner spot, Hugo’s, and it reminded us of our underground tour in Seattle (could that be a sign!?) The next day we had a campus tour with wonderful student guides. One of them a business major and ironically knew that we had knocked on the door of her sorority the night before and were turned down for a tour due to Covid. We loved the campus and I know MoMo would fit right in. Before leaving town, we ate tacos at Torchy’s and made the 3.5 hr drive home. The drive is a “con” by the way!
This past Tuesday we visited K-State for an official campus visit. We have been to Manhattan many times for fun and family and even Sophomore Day. However, we’ve never done a student-led tour or toured the new college of business building. Wow – it’s impressive! Brian and I met at K-State, have tons of memories and stories to tell but my hope is for Morgan to create her own stories whether that be at our Alma Mater or venturing off to do her own thing.
We had some interesting kids in our group – one declared that he was very into ping pong and “takes it very seriously” and the other decided to tell the guide that he couldn’t hear him and we were nearly done with the tour at that point. As Morgan said, why didn’t he move forward…I mean, let’s problem solve here people! Gotta love this girl! I have no doubt that she will be successfully navigating everything here in no time. And sorry dad, we didn’t have time to find your “St. Patrick Award” in the engineering building…another time! After peanut butter tacos for lunch at Taco Lucha (yes, that’s a thing…you should try it!). I’m sensing a theme here…tacos after campus visits are a must!
Stay tuned for her official decision!
conleycrew 