Mission "Move-In" Accomplished

"Operation T-bone Relocation" was a total and complete success!  Typical T event -- no fuss, no frustrations, no drama, no tears.  Move-in was a breeze! 

T is a Provost Scholar so she got to move in a day earlier than everyone else and it couldn't have worked out any better.  We didn't rush out to Oxford, I think we left B'ham around 10 AM.  Stopped for lunch just outside of campus and from there it was easy-peasy!  No long check-in lines (in fact, there was one other girl getting her keys at the desk when we arrived).  We got two primo parking spots right in front of her dorm, got the carpet for her room, walked up the two flights of stairs (carpet was too big to fit in the elevator), unrolled it and got right to work. 

BEFORE

I made up her bed while T & Cosmo emptied the cars.  I think between the three of us it only took a couple of trips and we only needed a cart for the fridge and microwave (right when the afternoon monsoon hit!).  Bess doesn't officially move in until today so it was just the 3 of us in the room (very easy to get around!).  The girl's room is a LOT bigger than I remembered.  I think the showroom they showed us was a lot narrower than T's real room.  I remember T & I walking in that showroom thinking, "OMG.  This is TINY."

She had a Scholar's reception at 6 PM so Cosmo & I walked around Oxford for a bit.  Sat on a park bench is more like it.  I think at that time we were both a little over-whelmed and slightly dazed.  Paul Giamatti walked right by us.  It was kind of cool.  Cosmo recognized him immediately.  When I heard him speak to his son (grandson??) I knew it was him.  He has a very distinct voice (I always think of that scene from Sideways when he talks about not drinking Merlot). 

Bess, her best friend Tristian, her mom and her sister drove in from Austin and we met them for dinner at our favorite restaurant on the Square.  We had a really great time and I think the girls are going to get along just fine!  Bess was dying to see the room so we all went back to the dorm after dinner and Cosmo helped set up the TV. 

Earlier in the day the girls across the hall poked their heads in to say hello and T's RA also introduced herself.  After dinner the girls next door to T came over and were so excited to see someone moving in.  One is from Hartford, CT and the other one was from Cape Cod.  They had arrived early because they still had to attend Orientation and were kind of the only ones on the floor/wing.  Those girls are a long way from home and their room was a little barren.  The one girl said they just bought the basics at Wal-mart when they arrived and she hoped to go shopping soon.  She said the only thing she brought from home (other than her clothes) was a set of monogrammed towels she got as a graduation gift. 

Cosmo & I said our good-byes, drove a hour to Tupelo and spent the night.  Had breakfast this AM and were home in B'ham by 11 AM.  I was expecting move in to be an absolute nightmare and I still can't get over how easy everything went!  I hope everyone's move-in is as smooth as ours was.  I haven't spoken to T yet today but she did text me that she ran into her lax friend from SP this morning.  Meg is on the hall above her and T's friend Heather is on the floor below her.  When we first arrived at the dorm yesterday, her friend Caroline drove by and laid on her horn and screamed "T-BONE!!" out her car window.  T had a Scholar's seminar this morning at 9 and she still had to get her parking pass and I think she was planning to stop by the broadcast room. 

I kept waiting for a huge wave of sadness to come over me and it really never did.  I teared up once or twice but I think I'm more excited for T than anything.  Yesterday wasn't about me and what I was feeling.  It was about getting her ready for this next, thrilling chapter in her life.  We were almost finished unpacking and decorating and T turned to me and said, "This is everything I thought it would be."  I think that's a pretty successful freshman move-in!

AFTER