Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

1300 miles and two moves in three days. Phew, I'm tired.

On Friday afternoon, Molly and I headed to DC with the Escape packed to the gills for the move into her sophomore dorm at George Washington University.

Charlie had figured out a route for us that avoided the scary roads around New York City and so with the directions clutched in her hand, Molly navigated me through New England and across the Tappan Zee Bridge.

We cruised through central New Jersey stopping to spend the night unexpectedly in the home of friends and made it into DC by noon on Saturday. Once in DC, we met up with Sara who had spent the summer after graduation living in a townhouse with some of her friends and working as a waitress at Papa Razzi in Georgetown. We got a hotel room and the girls both went off for a Saturday night in the City while I curled up and watched Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal.

On Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early while the girls slept and went out to read the paper and drink coffee at the hotel restaurant. In the Washington Post, there was a most interesting story about the founding of the Santa Fe Writers Project. I was captivated by the story and inspired by Andrew Gifford who overcame immense personal obstacles in order to publish books that he thought deserved an audience. When I returned to my hotel room, the girls were still sleeping so I googled and discovered that the Santa Fe Writers Project had a blog. Long story, short--Andrew Gifford is going to send me a copy of Moody to review in this space.

That seemed like a lot to accomplish in one day, but I still had to wake up the girls, move Molly into her dorm, move Sara out of her townhouse and start driving home.

That all went according to plan, thanks to the help of their friends. As an added bonus, Sara and I were able to take her friend Joe to Dulles Airport to meet his flight to a new life in Norway. He'll be designing the interior of cruise ships and taking a chance on a relationship. It felt good to be the ones to give him his Good-bye from America hug.

After a last dinner with Molly, we rolled back up the highway and eventually on to Maine. It's nice to have Sara home but the yawning absence of Molly in our home is huge--how I love to have them in the same space.

3 comments:

KGMom said...

Oh, Beth--you make me remember how much fun we had taking our daughter back to college in DC (she went to Georgetown). Such sweet memories.
Glad you had a most successful trip--and thanks for taking me down memory lane again.

Jayne said...

That does sound exhausting Beth, and I am glad it went so well, though I know you will be missing your Molly. :c)

Ruth said...

Glad you had a good trip, busy, but you participated in the lives of so many people. Children leaving home is traumatic for sure.