Recently, David and I have had the highest honor and privilege of taking our daughter, Remi, around the state of Texas to visit colleges.
I say that it is the “highest honor and privilege” because nothing makes you feel quite like Queen Elizabeth more than riding three hours in a car with two teenagers fighting over one phone charger and belching up Arby’s. It’s been a real treat.
Our first stop was to Texas A&M. Remi said that she wanted a “big school” and you cannot (you literally cannot) get any bigger than the currently enrolled 76,000 students at Texas A&M.
We don’t have anyone in our family who has ever been a Fightin’ Texas Aggie, so I don’t hold any personal attachments to this particular school, but I know it’s a good school and it’s only two hours from home, so I’m trying to build it up the entire time we are there. But Remi feels like so many kids she knows go to this school that it might make her feel like she was still back at her high school, bumping into kids she knows every day. I assured her that with a student body of this size there is absolutely no way she would ever even see anyone she knows and so she can cross this worry off her list. Imagine my surprise when we were on the campus tour and saw five different kids she knew from back home. Every time another one walked up and said, “Hey! Remi! What are you doing here?” I saw the mileage between me and my baby move further and further apart.
“Remi, this is a really great school and those kids won’t even be in your area of interest. You’ll never see them! Unless of course they open up a specific area of study called ‘I’m not totally sure but probably something with psychology and law with just a hint of government and a minor in Sarcasm.’” I thought that was hilarious. She didn’t laugh.
Later, on the tour, she raised her hand when they asked if anyone would like more information about a Texas A&M campus other than the main one in Bryan, College Station. “Yes,” she said, “I’d like to know more about the one in Qatar.”
Our next stop was to Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Here’s what I want you to know about Baylor: It is beautiful. It is expensive. Here’s what Remi would want you to know: Every Tuesday they have Dr. Pepper Float day.
How much more expensive is Baylor than A&M? Well, I’ll put it to you like this: On the A&M tour, we walked. On the Baylor tour, we rode a tram. On the A&M tour, we could grab a lukewarm water if there were any bottles left in the cooler. On the Baylor tour, there were Dr. Pepper floats.
Remi really liked Baylor. I think it’s because she saw her daddy and I break out in hives when they talked about tuition. She also liked the fact that the University President was a woman, and that our cute little tour guide asked for her Snap. (Insert eye roll here.) All great reasons for picking a college!
The last stop we made was to Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth. We have friends there so we got a personal tour and she sat on the front row with the Dutchmen for Saturdays game. (Dutchmen are the cheer captains. They are not wallpaper salesman, which is what they sound like to me.) Personally, I loved this school. I loved the location and the size and the campus and the people. I even told Remi how low the odds were that we would all look good in the same color - but every Radke looks awesome in purple! She was unmoved.
We are far from done on our search for the next place Remi will live. Will it be Bryan, College Station or will she go full Magnolia and pick Waco, Texas? Will it be TCU or will it not even be in the state of Texas? Next month we go check out University of Tennessee (Lord! Give me a Vol!!) and her “reach” school: Vanderbilt University. And yet we cannot forget that she still, much to my chagrin, wants to look at the University of Florida and Florida State because I once told her that every time a criminal escapes from the Penitentiary they generally always take up residence in Florida; so now she thinks it sounds like a real fun time. I think she does these things to hurt me.
Look, Remi is still a junior in high school, we have a long time before all of this happens. Don’t we? Or will I blink and it will be here before you know it? Will I take a nap and when I wake up I’m moving my baby into a new city? Maybe even a new state? For those of you moms who will be taking this on and moving your baby into a school dorm in 2024, I am praying for you. You pray for me - and I’ll pray for you, because has there ever been a scarier time to send our babies out into the world? I don’t think so! (Of course every mom since the dawn of time has probably thought this.)
All I know is this: I have 22 months left with this child. 22 months is all I have left to teach her all I need her to know: how to be a lady, how to be self-sufficient, how to be kind - but not be a doormat, how to love her independence - but know how important it is to have a strong community around you, how to find a good church, how to wake yourself up on a Sunday morning and actually go to that church without your mom screaming at you to wake up, and how to never ever ever accept a drink from a guy if the lid has already been removed. We have so much work to do!!
And don’t even get me started on knowing all the rules about living in Qatar…so, let’s hope that was a joke.
Melissa
P.S. Where does your child go to school? Do they love it? What other schools are out there with programs in Psychology/Law, with a side of Government, Fashion and Bad Attitude?
Clemson South Carolina would love to have sweet Remi join their student body. It is closer than Florida!
University of Kentucky (Go Big Blue!) is a fine school. It's beautiful campus in the heart of the Bluegrass and Horse Capitol of the World, and she could visit her Aunt Holly from time to time. I'm a mere 45 minutes away. Just sayin'.
My oldest son graduated in 2017 at the age of 47. I know, I know. He couldn't decide what he wanted to be when he grew up. Better late than never I always say.