The transition to college was bittersweet. Of course, Monnie, Ronnie, Rick, and I were all looking forward to the era of unprecedented independence and exploration that awaited us on the university campus, and we also looked forward to starting a long journey towards what we hoped would turn out to be engaging careers. On top of that, at least three of us were going to the same institution, so we had much less of the impending separation blues to cope with than was probably typical for college freshmen. Our luck did have its limits, though, as in addition to leaving our parents and broader family behind, we would also have to bid farewell to Ronnie, whose choice of university took her a couple hundred miles away from ours.
There were also some inevitable ramifications on our breastfeeding habits. Ronnie would probably have little trouble finding a friendly feeder in her school's Gamma Lambda Kappa chapter, and I was perfectly happy to keep providing Monnie with as much milk as I could produce. For Dina, however, it would be the end of an 18-year era, which is why I didn't blame her for shedding a few tears as she nursed one twin from each breast on the morning of Ronnie's flight to college. She would obviously miss the regular feeding sessions for their own sake, but more importantly, without sufficient simulation, her lactation would become quite susceptible to tapering off and eventually ceasing altogether. Even regular pumping might only do so much to prolong it. There was a good chance that, even when the twins returned for the holidays, Dina's days of nursing her daughters could be over for good. She'd known all along that this was a possibility, but that still didn't quite prepare her for when the time came. The twins sensed it as well, which may explain why they suckled a bit more slowly than usual, clearly savoring the feeling of closeness with their mom and the taste of her warm milk. They sucked firmly on her nipples and gulped down mouthful after mouthful, perhaps symbolically taking in a piece of Dina herself as a sort of parting keepsake. Nevertheless, when Ronnie finally stood at the front door with her luggage in hand, the round of hugs that ensued from me, Monnie, Dina, and Mom was mostly celebratory and optimistic.
Rick, Monnie, and I departed for our own campus just two days later with a similarly warm albeit bittersweet send-off from our immediate families. In fact, when Monnie and I arrived at Rick's house to pick him up, I was soon engulfed in a quick but sincere hug from his mother, who remarked, "It's lucky enough that you two can stay together geographically, but I'm really glad you two actually got together romantically too! You don't know how long Rick's been pining for you!"
"Mom!"
Monnie and I could only laugh at Rick's protest, while his mother just ignored it and smirked at him. "Not a moment too soon, too! There's bound to be some hot guys in college, and Michelle's a real beauty, so you took her off the market in the nick of time!"
"Aw, thanks!" I replied. "He's shaping up to be a real catch, too."
"If you say so," she quipped with a wink.
Rick rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Mom." His sarcastic grin then turned sincere as he embraced her one last time. "Bye, Ma."
"Be safe," she said with a sober smile and moist eyes.
"We will," Monnie assured her as we turned to exit the house.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Rick's mom apparently couldn't resist a parting tease. "And when I say, 'Be safe,' I don't just mean driving. I've never seen such clearly child-bearing hips!"
"Okay!" Rick declared loudly and abruptly. "We're gone!"
Monnie and I cackled at my visibly flushed boyfriend while he rushed us out of his house and into my car.
With that, our road trip and in turn our college educations officially began, and at least for the next few months, I would be Monnie's sole source of her favorite snack food. While Rick drove, I sat in the back next to Monnie specifically so that she would have easy access if she happened to get a milky hankering, which she in fact did towards the end of our roughly day-long journey. The sun had just set on a period of comfortable silence, and I suspect we were all fully realizing just then what a turning point this was for us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Monnie idly glance towards my boobs, and within a couple of seconds she was leaning over towards me.
"I'm gonna have some milk," she said as she gently gripped the bust of my tank top and pulled it aside.