By Kathy Wetsell 
Dorm supplies are center stage at Target, ready for college students and their parents to find with ease as they try to make a dorm room feel like a haven. For the first time in eight years, I do not have a child returning to a “home away from home” on a college campus. In many ways, I find peace with this knowledge; I mean, it is stressful to get a college student and all of their campus possessions moved into a new place during the hottest part of the summer.
But in some ways, I find myself a bit nostalgic for the back-to-school transition and the rhythms it included.
There was something so exciting about watching my daughters begin college, although there were many tears and anxious moments with that significant change. It was fun to plan their dorm rooms and to watch from the sidelines as they explored new opportunities and made new friendships. As each year of their college experiences ticked away, I watched as their living arrangements became more independent, their interests changed, their friendships strengthened, and they emerged as confident adult women ready to take on the next phase of adulthood.
As I look back on photos of the drop-off days and compare them to the graduation photos, I realize how far we have all come. Our kids were clinging to the safest places they had ever known while they were about to step into the very season they needed in order to launch. We hugged tightly as we let go of the babies we nurtured from the beginning and had to entrust them into their new world, which we could only observe from the sidelines. It’s a messy goodbye for certain, and I know many parents are about to experience it for the first time.
To those parents, I want to say yes, it is hard, but it will get easier with each passing semester. Allow yourself to feel the way you feel, but have confidence in the child you have raised and encourage them to believe in themselves. There is much they are capable of doing that they have not had to do for themselves yet, and college is the perfect place to learn. It’s a gradual maturing, and one you may not notice until you look back to the beginning, once they graduate. There will be challenges, and they will need guidance, but at some point, you will start to see them emerge with the perfect blend of confidence mixed with the knowledge that they still don’t completely have life figured out. (I don’t know if they would believe me if I told them I am STILL figuring life out at 56.)
I find myself wondering what’s ahead—for all of us. It’s time for new rhythms, and that is okay. There’s also a little uncertainty. But under it all, there’s peace—because I trust the One who holds their futures and mine. God has walked with us through every season, from kindergarten orientation to college graduation, and I know He’s not done writing our story.
“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.” – Psalm 138:8
by Heather McGuire 
by Brea Schmidt 
