The ride up the New York State Thruway took almost five hours rather than the anticipated three, on account of my frequent bathroom breaks at every rest stop between my home in Westchester and my dorm room on the fourth floor of West College. Filled with doubt and regret, I just wasn’t ready to go. My parents were supportive, but also at a loss; they had never dropped their firstborn off at college and were dealing with their own uncertainty and separation anxiety.
Now that I’m in the throes of last minute preparations before sending my youngest to college, I’m astonished at how different the process is today. I hadn’t met my roommate ahead of move-in day, as there was no FaceTime or Skype, and I certainly didn’t get to choose her. I didn’t bring a laptop on which to take notes, do assignments and most importantly, catch up on Netflix. Instead, I used my recently acquired typing skills on the computers in the dimly lit library basement.