A Road Trip Back to College: The Nine Hour Gift
Last Monday, I took a road trip back to college with my youngest of four sons. We were driving from Morristown NJ to Ann Arbor, MI, as he was about to start his sophomore year at the University of Michigan.
It had been just over 5 months since I drove out there to pick him up on that depressing day when school abruptly ended for so many of these young people. Over these past months there have been a rollercoaster of emotions……Sadness, optimism, frustration, helplessness….and then resilience. Everyone in our family was going through it, but also feeling blessed that we had comforts of a wonderful home, supportive family unit, and a financial foundation that allowed us to not stress the basic needs. However, when Aidan was weighing the decision whether to go back to Ann Arbor for a less than ideal college experience, the emotion that overwhelmed me was stress.
All of a sudden, I realized that our wonderful Covid cocoon was opening up and the world was out there to be encountered. We had not a lot of time to really think, nor prepare. We basically threw some clothes and bedding into his truck, not nearly as organized as last year, and off we drove on that long stretch of Rt 80 West. Nine hours away, Aidan would settle in to a new normal of college life. My stress began to melt away, as I realized that these nine hours were a gift! We had time, just the two of us, to analyze our past five months, to talk about our plans and goals for the future, to embrace the present that we had. We talked, listened to Aidan’s always well crafted playlists, and we stared out the windows at the rolling hills and farms of Pennsylvania. A friend had said to me a few days earlier, ” nine hours in the car??? That sounds dreadful.” Nope, nine hours in the car with your son is absolutely priceless.
The ride was too short for me ( but not my back!!). We arrived in Ann Arbor and beyond the chaos of moving in, shopping at a depleted Target, and realizing that Fraternity house living is certainly not “cocoon-like”…we both became aware that this is exactly where Aidan should be. All of the worries and reservations, of returning to the less than ideal college life, were eased as soon as he was with his friends, who were experiencing the same thing. The phrase, “we are in this together” has been coined during this pandemic, and it was apparent that these young people were in it together.
The next day consisted of some more errands, more moving in, and a great meal with Aidan and a couple of his buddies in town. Ann Arbor was young, “masked”, but alive! The next morning, on the twenty minute drive to the airport, where Aidan dropped me to catch my flight home, was another small gift. It was the beautiful ‘adornment on a package”. It was the feeling that I was fortunate to have this amazing young man as my son, and to have spent the last couple of days truly talking to one another. It’s knowing that no matter what the future holds, we had 9 hours to leave nothing unsaid….especially, the words “I Love You.”
