College Day!

Guys had a small get together with their close friends

 Mommas warned me that when you drop your babies off at college, that you cry all the way home. Our drive is a little over 6 hours. 

And I thought I would be sad but there is no way I would cry that long.

I had peace a couple days before the big day. I was super excited for them. 

We had all the shopping done, my list was complete.  

But when I came home to see them packing all their stuff up, it hit me right in the gut.

The tears started at that time.

My Familia get together the day before 

We planned a 3 day trip, we were going to drive to Amarillo the first night, planned to do a nice dinner and movie and just hang out with them.

We left on Saturday morning, 2 SUV’s fully loaded with their things. Stopped for a nice breakfast, even stopped in Childress so the guys could say goodbye to their best friend’s mom as she was on her way back to Boyd.

It was 108 outside and we were driving about 75 the entire way. When the guys had a blowout. Not just a regular blow out, but the tread on the back tire literally blew out, and it took out their bumper and tail light.

The guys changed the tire as Trav used wire and tape to put the KIA bumper and light back together.. We notice the spare tire had a nail in it, so now the guys have to drive slow as we follow.

Aaron looked at me and said  “Man momma good things are about to happen”!

We get going again…

We drive another 20 miles and the Big Blue Beast starts overheating.. This random guy pulls up and happens to have gallons of water for us and cold drinking water for us to drink since we are all drenched in sweat..

We get going again..

Another 20 miles and the Big Blue Beast is overheated again, we pull over in front of fruit stand, and Trav realizes where the water is leaking from and he is trying to figure out how to fix it. He asks the guy at fruit stand if he has a certain size part to do temp fix and of course the guy had a perfect fitting pvc pipe that Trav needed. Let me remind you it’s hot, we are tired. I look at Cameron and Aaron and say “are you sure this is where yall want to go.?” They both laugh and say YES! We are even more excited because something great is going to happen after all these issues. !

30 minutes later we are on the road..

We stop for gas for the KIA and Trav notices water is pouring out again on the Big Blue Beast! I am almost in tears, tired, hot that I just start laughing.. A random guy drives up to see if we need help, he happens to own a shop in town and offers to drive and get us a part that Trav needs.

 Another 30 minutes and we are on the road again.

We make it to Amarillo around 8:30 that night. No time for movie so we settle for the nice dinner.

Trav is worn out,.. We are eating dinner and talk about the lovely trip and we all just laugh about it. But we all realized how each time we broke down God sent the right person with what we needed exactly to get going again. 

We have a good stay at the hotel and even enjoy the rain and thunderstorm that came thru.

Trav got up the next morning to go and buy new tires for the guys, he had them checked before we left Boyd to be sure the tires were good for the trip. He was told they were in perfect condition. But when he took them to get looked at again, the guy showed Trav where the tires were rotted out, and we realize that it was a miracle in itself that they guys only had one blow out.

 Another God moment for sure.

We finally get the guys to OPSU, when we drive up and the Baptist church in town had members there ready to help us unload both Suvs and take all the guys stuff to their dorm. 

We get them all settled in, We take them to dinner and to buy groceries. 

Everything is set, and so we say goodbye. 

I can see the excitement in their faces. 

I can see they have everything they need to start this new season. 

But gosh it was tough to hug them and say goodbye.. 

Jazzy girl was taking it really hard, my heart broke for her..

There were tears and pictures and we were out the door. 

We got us a hotel room in Texhoma for the night. I did more crying off and on but I was doing good.

The next morning, when we loaded up and headed home was the hardest for me. I am not really sure why. But I felt like I could not breathe. My heart was breaking because since I was 17 years old they have been a huge part of my daily life. 

And now I felt so empty, and I hated that feeling.

 How can we be so proud and excited that they have grown to be such amazing loving guys, who are going to experience so many great things. But yet my heart is aching to leave them and not be a part of their daily life.? This has been the hardest thing in my life as a mom. 

 So yes, over 6 hour drive home I did the ugly cry.

Here I am 2 days later and I am doing better. The guys have been so good to me, they have sent me texts to tell me they love me. They called us last night and told us about how their first practice went great and how their coach calls them his “X factors” because they ran great times and were number 2 and 3 in their cross country team. They were excited about starting classes Wednesday.

 And we are so excited for them..

So this is the new life for us.. Just Trav, Jazz and me.. And its going to take some getting used to.

I know this was a long post, but thank you for reading it all the way thru. I have to say that thru out this trip Trav has been my rock. He has held me and encouraged me, and I thank God that he still chooses to do life with me for almost 20 years..