Young Love

As soon as I came home Patrick asked me to snap this shot of him and his girlfriend Natalie with his cell phone.

Natalie is a Senior this year and Patrick is heading off to college tomorrow. We are getting up at about 5am to drive to Valdosta which is about 2 hours south. Registration begins at 8am, and Orientation begins at 9am and ends at 1pm. As soon as that is over we will be moving him into his dormatory.

Emotions have been mixed this last month waiting for this day to come. Greg and I have a feeling of pride and joy, and excitement for Patrick to begin his life as a young adult, as well as excitement for us to begin our next chapter with an empty nest.

Patrick's emotions have been surprisely apprehensive, he's not too excited about being away from home like you would think he should be. But understandable since his love Natalie will be here, young love is hard enough, so to be 2 hours from each other is torture when you are that age. I forget sometimes what it was like to be that young.

Knowing what I know now, I'm thinking I would have loved to have had the opportunity to experience what Patrick is about to experience. My college experience has been evening classes after a full days work. So to be young, with no responsibilities, just keeping my grades up and working at least 15 hours a week, sounds like a dream come true.

It's funny how we see things so differently as we get older. I guess that's where the saying comes from "I Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now".