The Next Chapter

Tomorrow is day 7 and what a transition we've made since last Thursday. I'll start off by saying it was much harder than I ever anticipated taking Jordan to college and leaving her there. I had been so excited for her that I was really not even sure how it would feel when the day actually came. It was much more emotional and heart wrenching than I expected.

We left at 5:00 AM because we had a limited amount of time to move her in. Jordan started to cry before we even left the house. She made it a point to go find each one of the dogs and say a proper goodbye. She hugged them and kissed them and the tears started to flow.

The day went extremely fast and before we knew it Jordan was all moved in and it was time for us to leave. I asked Jordan if she wanted to say goodbye in her room or if she wanted to walk us out to the truck. She opted to walk us outside. I grabbed her and hugged her hard.... I wanted to tell her I loved her and how proud I was of her but no words would come out of my mouth... but she knew. I just had to walk away and get in the truck.

Within a few hours of being home Jordan was on the phone sobbing "I can't stay here". It was heartbreaking. We knew Jordan had been apprehensive the last few weeks but I didn't know how hard it was going to be on her. For 3 days she really struggled, having a major breakdown at least once a day. All we could do was tell her we understood, validate her feeling and tell her that this was normal and that it was going to get better... she had a hard time believing us.

Much to our relief by Sunday she was starting to turn around. Monday classes started and that really helped her. She doing really well! We know she will still have days where she feels homesick but I know she's going to be OK.

How do I know she's going to be OK?

Every time I talk to her she throws out the name of a new friend.

She went and bought a student season ticket to all the hockey games.

She felt comfortable enough to go to the rec center on her own to work out.

She's gone to every single welcome activity.

She asked for a door stop to prop her door open to welcome others to enter.

She loves her classes.

She's driven herself to the bank and up to Wal-Mart and Meijers

(she's finding her way around the town)

I watch her Facebook and she's been adding a lot of new friends from Ferris.

She calls me just to tell me what an awesome dinner she had in the cafeteria.

We couldn't be happier for her......