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Incoming Mary Washington College freshmen and their parents haul personal belongings and furniture up several MWC freshman Sarah Mayo of Charlottesville smiles while sister Kelsey and dad John assemble a bookcase in her dorm room. |
THEY WERE READY.
Before 8 a.m. yesterday, parents had parked on the brick-paved lanes around Mary Washington College's Virginia Hall, waiting to unload suitcases and bedding and daughters.
As soon as they were allowed in, families and their freshmen launched into a controlled frenzy of efficiency. They filed up stairwells like ants carrying 50 times their body weight. And they did it over and over and over.
Roommates exchanged first-impression hellos while parents struggled with lofts, desks and computer hookups.
It was the same all over the Fredericksburg campus, where 863 freshman women and men moved into five of the college's 17 dormitories. Total enrollment of 892 freshmen makes this the largest MWC class ever.
Move-in time was limited, as school officials kindly but strongly urged parents to leave the nest by 2 p.m.
They looked strong and brave and scared. The parents, that is.
But they were ready.
"I'm kind of looking forward to it," said Bob Decker of Alexandria, settling daughter Catherine into Virginia Hall, the college's only single-sex freshman dorm.
"It's sort of natural," Decker said. "It's what we've been working for over the past 12 years in school, so you'd better be mentally prepared."
Still, despite months of planning and anticipation some parents found that the day crept up on them emotionally.
"Our daughter is just a little angel, and she's going to be awfully lonely," said an anxious Lindy Mayo of Charlottesville.
"I don't know who's going to wake her up in the morning, because her mother's woken her up for the past 17 years," Mayo said.
"The alarm clock," answered a smiling Sarah Mayo.
The rest of the Mayo family--dad John, brother Josh, 21, and sister Kelsey, 13--were on hand to wish Sarah well.
But getting out by 2 p.m. wasn't in the cards. While Sarah went off to orientation, the family went to Wal-Mart for curtain rods.
A little parental lingering is not unusual, said Christine Porter, the college's director of residence life.
"I see everything from parents who drop their students off at the door and say goodbye to parents who are still around four days later," she said.
Peri and Michael Ferris of Malibu, Calif., weren't trying to cling.
But after they flew across the country with daughter Tina and four enormous duffel bags, there was no way they were leaving by 2.
"They'll have to chase us out, and we're bigger than they are," Michael Ferris said.
The Ferrises don't expect to see Tina until she comes home for winter break. "Unless we get the big surprise--'I want to come home!'" Peri Ferris said.
"With my daughter I think there's been a bit of innocence, or denial, that she will miss us. She's really stubborn, so she may force herself to stick it out," Ferris said.
"But I'm not in denial. I've been really sad."
Kevin and Barbara Creegan of Bellmore, N.Y., had planned to be upbeat and dry-eyed about leaving their oldest, Colleen, at college.
But when the time came, Barbara teared up.
Then Colleen teared up.
Then Kevin teared up.
Then Colleen teared up some more.
She hugged both parents, sister Kathleen, 16, and brother Patrick, 11, and turned away.
She walked partway up the stairs, then came back to sneak a look as her family disappeared toward the parking lot.
They were ready. And so was she.
