BYU

Saturday I was in line behind a guy at the grocery store.  The checker was super chatty and enthusiastic, slamming groceries into bags with a whole lot of force.

She asked the guy for his Smith's card number.  He said, "Oh, I'm from out of state."

"Where are you from?" she asked.

He said, "Texas...well Las Vegas."  The two of them looked at each other with a little confusion and he tried again.  "I'm originally from Brazil."  Then he gestured to the tall kid across the way waiting for him.  "My wife and I are dropping our son off at BYU," he said.  As if that explained his inability to explain where he was from.

My immediate thought was, "Already?  People are already bringing their kids to BYU?"  I'm not ready for that!  There's a big difference between being happy your kids are accepted to BYU (I was!  Happy day!) to actually having them move out.  And then there's the cost.  Spoiler alert, but sending two kids to/getting them ready for college isn't cheap.

It's all kind of dizzying and disorienting and I can totally understand why my friend from Texas/Las Vegas/Brazil didn't know where he was from.  Solidarity buddy.  I get it.  Kids + college is disconcerting.

*****

Emma asked me the other day if I was excited for her to go to college.  I said, "I'm excited for you, but not for me."

She said, "There must be something that will be better about it.  Less work for you?"

"No," I said. "You don't cause that much work.  There's no upside for me."

"Do you want me to live with you forever?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"Then there's an upside."

Who am I to argue with Emma?