Not So Empty Nest

It seems my little nest is not so empty anymore...Let me explain...My little one is back! Caitlin headed down to Coastal Carolina University in the fall. She did very well her first semester, and for those of you out there that know her, or that have been following along here, you know that she has had some difficult times. You also know that she has risen to each occasion, and she has really matured quite a lot over the last six months. I am quite proud of her...However, as excited as she was to be away from home, and to be at the college of her choice, she decided quite early on that the school that she had chosen might not be the one for her after all...

So, while home over the holidays, Caitlin made the decision not to return!! She made good grades, she fared well on her own, and I thought she should finish out the year. She has chosen a school that she would like to transfer to in the fall. She will apply to a few. When she found out what we were to shell out for her second semester at Coastal, a place that she was dreading the return to, she put her foot down. Caitlin informed us that she will, and now has, withdrawn from Coastal (with permission) and now will attend the local community college for a semester. Thereby saving us a mere $12,000 in the meantime...I have to admit that this decision is another sign of her new found maturity.

However, do any of you out there know if one can back slide in the area of newly gained wisdom and maturity? I am afraid that by moving back home and being dependent again in the day to day of life, that Caitlin will lose some of that hard earned adulthood...I guess time will tell...

In the meantime, I suppose that she has made a wise decision, as she has been able to register for the same classes that she unregistered for at Coastal and she has made sure that they will transfer to her new school of choice in the fall...Now we just have to go through that process...oh well...

Oh, yes! I almost forgot to mention! She drove down Sunday to pick up the rest of her stuff...You remember, Sunday? The night of the big ice storm in the South...Well, Caitlin packed up Sunday night, and left bright and early Monday morning...I got a call while at work...She made sure to tell me right off that she was OK...I found out later that that was her father's doing...she had spun out twice...both times she ended up in the wrong direction on I95...the second time she hit the guard rail...a gentleman stopped and helped her get her car back on the road...she was talking to me from a rest stop...while she had me on the phone a guy opened her car door to get in! He thought it was his! I calmly told her to LOCK HER DOORS!!!!!

We urged her to get off at the next exit and stop at a hotel and stay there...Kirke had to fax some info as she is only 18 but that is what she did...We finally got our baby back on Tuesday, late afternoon...

I think we'll keep her a while!! I think we'll enjoy her too!

Stay Pink!

Oh! The school she would like to attend...James Madison University...Wish her luck!