Traditional travel has been a bit quiet for me for the past few months since I’ve shifted to spending my time visiting colleges with Markell. He is a senior in high school this year and as he’s been accepted to universities or had schools interested in him playing football, we have been visiting them.

He wanted to stay within a few hours of the D.C. area so we’ve been to schools in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. It’s been fun to explore campuses and their surrounding college towns to get a perspective on the school. On our most recent trip to see a university, we went out to dinner in the college town, walked around the downtown, and spent the night there.

Markell just recently made his college decision to attend a school in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and I’m already mapping out our future trips to the area – orientation, move-in day, family weekend, and his birthday. I look forward to continuing to familiarizing myself with the area and taking advantage of some of the attractions and activities it has to offer.

I never had the experience of my parents visiting me in college because I went to a school thirty minutes from my house and commuted for most of my college years. I had a great college experience though and am so excited for Markell to hopefully have the same, with the added perk of living on campus away from home.

The college decision process has been a long and stressful one for us and I am relieved we have a decision that both Markell and I are happy with. The next emotion I am trying to wrap my head around is that the child I have been raising and spending a significant amount of time with for the past eighteen years is moving out of the house in four months. As he is my only child, I feel a sense of loss that I am trying to come to terms with. As with all transitions in life though, I’m sure with time I will find my way.

In the meantime, here’s to the Class of 2025!!