The summer is winding down.
To the college student that means that the Fall semester is just around the corner.
Back to school things have been the stores for a minute. Yesterday I heard a mom frantically looking for extra long twin sheets and I thought to myself, “Someone is sending their first kid off for their first colleges days.”
The Fall semester will start before you know it.
Make a list of necessary dorm things. Extra long twin sheets, a caddy for the shower, some rudimentary kitchen stuff, and probably a mini fridge. Definitely a microwave.
Make a second list of necessary school things. In my day, this was notebooks and pens and paper and my very first computer.
Don’t forget clothes for the changing temperatures.
Don’t forget quarters for the washing machines. If they even do that anymore that is.
Don’t forget your chargers.
Don’t forget notebooks and pens. You know, just in case.
Don’t forget to download your syllabus when available.
Don’t forget to make a schedule of your classes.
Don’t forget to check out the nearby restaurants or, if you are eating on the meal plan, the hours of the cafeteria.
Don’t forget to be excited about this new chapter in your life. It is okay to be a little scared too.
Above all, don’t forget to reach out for help when you need it.
But these last few days before the hustle and bustle truly starts give yourself permission to finish that book you’ve been reading. Give yourself permission to enjoy this time.
It will be over before you know it and you will be an old hand a the dorm thing. Or at the off campus house thing.
Before the Fall semester starts take a moment and remember yourself just as you are because you will be a different person when you next are home. Also remember to give your parents grace as they learn to understand and accept the new you.
After all, to them, you were just in diapers.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 