Curly goes to College

We loaded up and drove Ryan (and Curly) to Fayetteville on Wednesday. We took a family vote on whether or not Curly would make the trip and well, our hunk of a son didn't think he would cramp his style too much. Maybe he doesn't realize just how small a twin bed is, either way, they're both now at home in Pomfret Hall on the U of A campus.

We made a day of it on Wednesday, moving him in with the help of his assigned "buddy" (I'm sure there's a more military-sounding word for this) from the ROTC. Jeff is a senior from Westfork. He helped us unload in a record 20 minutes and then stayed around to answer questions from Richard and Ryan. Seth moved in at the same time, and we got to meet his dad and brother too.

We hung out in Fayetteville most of the day and then met our dearest friends for a 2 hour catch-up dinner that night at CFA. So thankful they had a back room that we could fit the 12 of us in. It was a great ending for the day before we had to actually drop Ryan off and say "goodbye." Really, it kind of feels like he's at camp. Afterall, he's one hour and 15 minutes from our front door. We did get a little choked up, but know that he's close and in good hands.

Thursday Ryan had ROTC meetings from 7-3. I wasn't sure if he would call us and tell us he had no idea what he had gotten himself into or not, but the only words we got were, "I have so much to tell you about today, it was 8 hours but seemed like 10 minutes. I loved it but I can't talk now, I'm busy." Yep, that was our first phone call.

Friday Ryan had his official PT test and he did great. What a blessing that it's not 100 degrees like it's been all summer. He not only survived the test but passed. A second phone call included times and stats from the test with Richard and an explanation that he couldn't talk more because he needed to shower, eat and be in uniform and out the door back to ROTC in 30 minutes...

Friday afternoon Richard got the third call. His commanders had chosen him as the squadron leader for his new class to attend a "leader's meeting" with the colonels, and upper classmen leaders to evaluate the first two days. He also let us know that his baseball tryout was at 1:15 at Baum Stadium. After his tryout he went to the football stadium and watched the HOGS scrimmage...like he owned the place.

On Friday night we Skyped with Ryan, he changed shirts while talking to us because he and Seth were headed out the door to a Friday night party at the union with other students. And the reason he was busy on Thursday night...they had game night in their room with 10 other people, including their RA. He was offered the job by the Razorbacks to be a bullpen catcher. He had to catch RHP Stanek (which, as I've been told, throws in the mid 90s). He visited with all the coaches and the other players that were there and he's pretty much having a BIG TIME at school.

All this, 3 days before school starts! Richard reminded me that our fun in college pretty much didn't have anything to do with classes either. True.

So, the transition hasn't been hard for him, he's thrown himself into the mix and is having a blast. What more could we ask for?...a phone call where he acts like he's missing us maybe?