Freshman year. A wonderful new experience awaits your incoming college student, and you cannot believe your baby has grown up. You feel yourself hyperventilating, and the concept of packing up their stuff and moving them into the dorms seems impossible.

Change is always difficult, and even when the change is positive (congratulations to your college student!) it is still hard to accept your new reality.

Remember that YOU prepared us for taking on the world, and now WE have to take the leap!

We are grateful for all you have given and taught us, and now, we are ready to step into the next phase of our lives. The opportunity to live on our own is a fantastic, and quite frankly, terrifying step on our journeys.

However, it is a necessary step to discover how to take on the world ourselves. We know if we need to, you are there to lean on, and we are eternally grateful for this.

There will come a day, though, where you cannot be there anymore. This college journey will prepare us for the new reality of life we will have to face without you one day.

We LOVE you and will still keep in touch!

Whether it is a day or two a week or every day, your new student will still talk to you! We have lived and learned with you for 18 years now, you are not replaceable! Whether it is once a month or every weekend, we will come home and see you!

Also remember that the phone works both ways! If you want to talk, reach out! We love you and may just need the reminder to take a break from the craziness of college life and talk with you.

Please know that this is new to us too, be PATIENT!

I am not even on campus yet, and I am having a lot of new things thrown at me. This week has been all about packing, and it seems really overwhelming all of a sudden. I am getting invited to clubs on campus and trying to make new friends, and there is a lot to consider and figure out for the upcoming school year.

Outwardly, your student may seem cool and collected and ready to go to campus and forget all about you, but realize that they may just not want to upset you.

My mom was panicking this week, losing patience with me, and I did not know what to do to reassure her because I am still figuring my new situation out. We will figure out a routine and adjust, but work with us until we can get everything together.

Most of all, know we LOVE you and THANK YOU for teaching us the skills needed to get us this far! One step at a time, we will work for and achieve our goals!