Tuesday morning 6AM came ridiculously early, especially when you got only about four hours of sleep. That's about what I got altogether the night before. But I woke up feeling fiery, ready to take on the world. That's how I felt, until the adrenaline burned off. Then I'd need a lot of caffeine. But I was off to a good start.
I used the bathroom before Camilla got in there, shaving, showering, packing my personal things in my shaving kit. Then I let Cammy get in there while I went down to make a pot of coffee while our parents got ready.
Dad came down first and he gave me a wistful smile and a pat on my shoulder. "This is it, Jon. You're off to make your mark on the world. You'll be living there much more than you'll be here with us. Be extra nice to your mom this morning? She was crying much of the night. We're thrilled for you, proud of you, but it's still hard for her, you leaving home." His eyes got teary as well.
"It's hard for you too, isn't it, dad? You can admit it to me."
"All right, of course it is. I'm going to miss you a lot." He hugged me tight and I returned it, just as strong. "All right, now, a couple of things. Your checking account there has your money, plus another thousand dollars from us. That should be plenty of money, considering your room and board is taken care of. But if you need more, call me. Also, you know to watch the drinking. It's very easy to get carried away and overdo it at a party. The one thing I don't have to warn you about is how to treat girls. You're already covered there. I'm glad you're going with Eva. Don't screw it up. She's a great girl. Take care of her and she'll take care of you. Study hard, go to classes. And you can call us any time if you need us. That's all I can think of. Oh, we all love you very much, son." His look was warm and happy and sad, all at once. I was crying a little myself.
"I'll be fine dad, but thank you. I love you all."
At that moment Cammy came in. "I can't believe you're going, Jon. Who am I going to look to for help?" She looked so sad at that moment.
"Me, just like always. You'll just have to do it by phone. But I'll always make time for you, sis. Just try not to need me during finals or on Saturday nights" I teased her and she turned her frown into a smile. "Besides, you don't have to say goodbye for hours yet. It'll be you, me and Eva in my car. You can ask us anything in the next four hours."
"Where's your mother already" dad grumped. "We have to meet the Glazers in 20 minutes at the diner for breakfast. Carol? Are you coming or are we leaving you here?" he yelled up the stairs.
"Be right down!" mom called back and a few minutes later she was with us. "My boy is a college man today!" she said kissing my cheek. It was mushy and uncomfortable and I loved her like mad.
I took a look around and I felt so....melancholy, though I knew why I was sad. I was excited to be leaving but I'd miss my home and family. More than I could have believed a week ago. I made sure I had my papers for school, everything I was supposed to bring, and we got going, Cammy riding with me as we took our cars to the diner to meet Eva and her parents for breakfast.
They were there already and I kissed Eva quickly as we all settled in to order. She and I held hands on top of the table before breakfast came, then we all dug in. All things considered, we were a fairly quiet group of seven.
We were on the road 45 minutes later and, at first, the three of us were quiet. Eva and I were both a bundle of nerves and Cammy was feeling her own mix of emotions. Not only were we close as brother and sister, but she had gotten close to Eva as well over the previous six months. She was feeling like she was losing both of us. But after a while, we played music and sang together and that broke the somber mood and we were chatting about all sorts of things. It made me think how much I'd miss my little sister. Despite our six year age difference, we were friends as well as siblings.
In the last half hour of the drive I said to Cammy "Remember, we'll be home in just over a month for your Bat Mitzvah. We'll be there before you know it. And as I said earlier, call me whenever if you need me. Or call Eva if you need a girls advice. We're both here for you."
"Absolutely, Cammy" Eva added. "Any time at all. I wish I was as close with my own brothers as I am with you. So you're never really alone."
"What if you and Jon break up?" Leave it to my sister to bring up something that neither Eva nor I ever discussed. Why would we? Everything was great between us. We had no reason to believe anything but good times were ahead.
"Cammy" I answered, "that's not something we're going to talk about. Eva and I love each other very much, we get along great, and we have no reason to expect anything to go wrong. So don't ask that. Just expect both of us to be there for you." Cammy just sat back. She was within a couple of hours of saying goodbye to us. "Hey, think about this: you're finally getting your own bathroom! No more sharing!"
She smiled at the thought of not having to fight with me over the bathroom. "That IS a benefit. But I'll still share with you when you're home. Maybe" she giggled. I stuck my tongue out at her, looking at her through the rear view mirror.
Soon we saw the signs for the school and Eva and I grasped hands across the front seat. Then the signs directing us to our 'colleges', as the clusters of dorms are split into. Eva and I were both assigned to dorms at Hinman, but we didn't know if they would be close or distant. I was assigned to Cleveland and she was in Hughes and it turned out the buildings were about 100 feet apart, entrance to entrance. We smiled at each other. It was almost as good as we could have hoped for.
All three cars stopped in the parking lot between the two and while our dads stayed with the cars, our moms came with us to register for our room assignments and to get keys. Since neither of us were using a large amount of financial aid (SUNY colleges were very inexpensive back in '79, we both had scholarship money and our parents made up the difference), neither of us had problems checking in for our rooms. A lot of students couldn't say the same from what we saw.
We took a minute...a single minute.... and hugged while we made plans to meet up for dinner at the dining hall, then went our separate ways to move in. That's how I spent the next few hours. Moving in my clothes and other belongings, including my stereo and posters and all sorts of small things. I met Steve, my roommate and his family and we helped each other with the heavier things. When I got all my things inside, it was time to say goodbye amidst the chaos of hundreds of others moving in.
Mom almost made a big scene, but dad whispered to her not to embarrass me. I said "Don't worry about it, dad. Give me a big hug, mom." She did, a few tears on her cheeks that got wiped away. Then my dad, another hug (not as big) and a handshake. Then Cammy. I knelt down to her height and I hugged her. "You behave for mom and dad or I'll have to come home and hug you some more." She held me tight, the one who really didn't want to let me go. But she had to and I kissed her cheeks and my family was gone. Steve's left soon after and we got into the process of getting to know each other while we kept unpacking and setting up our room the way we wanted.
Around 4, most of my set up done, I went over to Eva's dorm to see how she was managing. I found her room easy enough (the buildings in Hinman were all the same design so each dorm was identical) and, to put it simply, her experience was not going as well. I could see it on her face when I walked by her room and knocked on her open door.
She gave me a look like murder was on her mind. "Jon, this is Robin" she said, nodding to her roommate, who was a nice looking girl. I held out my hand which she shook like I was contaminated. Uh oh. Then Eva said "Jon, I think I might have left something in your car." The look she gave me said there was nothing missing but she needed to talk to me.
