Leaving the Nest

So our first little chick has left the nest. (flown the coop?)  It's a strange feeling to be missing her and excited for her and worried about her all at the same time.  Wednesday morning Natalie and I drove to Nashville bright and early (about 5am) to catch our flight to Utah.  I thought we had left plenty of time to get to the airport, but of course, we ran into unexpected construction delays just outside of Nashville and, with about 30 miles to go, I was starting to get pretty worried that we would miss our flight.  Luckily, we ended up making it to the airport just in time though and had no other problems on the way to Salt Lake.  

Aunt Page picked us up at the airport and took us to Litza's Pizza (Mark's favorite) for a late lunch where Natalie couldn't resist snapping a picture to show Dad what he was missing.  After lunch, we drove to Grammy and Popop's to pick up all the boxes we had been shipping to Utah all summer long and then we headed over to BYU to check Natalie into her dorm.

Just as we were finishing unpacking, Natalie's roommate, Catherine, and her parents showed up.  Catherine was Natalie's best friend while we lived in North Carolina and had moved her things in earlier that morning.  We were super excited to see the Windhams again but, in a small dorm room,  four enthusiastic adults, two college students, and all of Natalie's unpacked boxes and bags do not leave a lot of space to maneuver.  So, as soon as we had found a home for most of Natalie's things, we left the dorms and all went out to dinner together.  

Thursday and Friday Natalie was busy with all of her BYU orientation activities and Page and I ran around town shopping for anything and everything that we could think of that college student would need for the next few months.  Turns out we could think of a lot of stuff.

Friday night I got to see Natalie one last time.  I brought by all the things we had bought for her and then Natalie and I went out for a sushi dinner with Aunt Heather and her family.  After dinner, I took Natalie back to her dorm room and, after some big hugs, it was time for me to go.  It's hard to describe the feelings I had when I left her room and heard the door shut as I walked down the hall.  I miss her lots, but I'm so excited for her!  I can't wait to hear about all her adventures this year!