Classes begin

Reality arrives. This is not just an extended vacation home, which I quickly realize when I have to get up at 6:15 AM for the first day of classes. The drive from my parents home to the campus in Lancaster will take about 40 minutes....if we can manage to avoid the speed trap on Hwy 9, the Lewisville school buses, and the trains that encircle every entrance and exit of our town.+With my Bubba keg full of coffee and a very anxious daughter. we grab her new LL Bean lavendar backpack filled with binders and pens and head to college. First course is University 101, an introduction to college life for new students. My daughter is enrolled in the Opportunity Scholars Program, a federally funded program for first generation college students, low income college students, and students with a documented disability. Guess which cagtegory she falls into? Check. The only student in the class with a screaming blue walker (affectionately called "Big Blue"), she signs in and takes a front row seat. Might as well start off at the top of the class!! You go girl!! Here, we will learn all the tools and strategies needed to make the college experience successful. Where was this class when I was in college? Our introduction to college consisted of being dumped in front of a dorm by your parents, hauling your luggage up three flights of steps, and being told to behave, study, and not do anything that would embarrass the family. Today's kids actually get three hours of credit for learning how to study effectively while managing a checking account while having safe sex without abusing drugs and alchohol. You get the picture. Next stop, Afro American studies. While she may have been the only student with a walker in the first class, she was now the only student with a walker and blonde hair. We began the class by meditating ("closed eyes, hands on the thighs") to gospel music. By this point, I'm loving college. I'm meditating away, about to fall asleep, and loving the fact that for the first time in years, I am getting to just sit. I don't know who is more excited at the end of the day..me or my daughter. So far, college life is great.