The Kassel Family Project Life 365

It is a somewhat long story, but Andy and I are back in Cape Girardeau at the Drury Plaza Hotel for the night to help Laura move to a new dorm room tomorrow.

If I could have chosen what her first two weeks of the college experience would have been like, these would not have been it.

First, SEMO Marching Band turned out to be very overwhelming for her. College marching band is truly the next level, and it is a lot to take in the beginning. However, Laura fought through the first few days of band camp with support from her section mates, and she is ALL IN now. I got the pleasure of saying, “I told you so”, but the first few days were really touch and go for her.

Second, Laura came out one morning to find her bike gone. Some jerk stole it, and she called Andy in a panic. He talked her through what to do, and she handled it well. A police report was filed, and we are hoping that it gets recovered. If not, we will buy a new bike, but I suspect the new bike will stay safely in our garage in Columbia.

Finally, her roommate situation was not good. At first, Andy and I thought Laura might have been overreacting, but it did not take us long to realize after we met her roommate that she was not. Bolstered by support from marching band friends and us, she talked to her Resident Assistant. From there, things moved quickly, and she moves to a single room tomorrow.

It has been a roller coaster the last two weeks for her and us, but she is relaxed and happy now. She is loving marching band and enjoying her classes. This room change should be the last hurdle.

What I am most relieved about is that she has marching band friends who supported her even though they literally met her two weeks ago. Also, I am grateful to her RA who listened to her and jumped into action. Here is to a smooth move tomorrow, but also to a happy Laura. Now, her college experience can really begin…

When you forget to take the first day of school picture at your house, you snag one in the car at drop off. It is John’s first day of Junior year. Have a great day, Dude!

It is the first time that I haven’t taken Laura’s first day of school picture. However, she did take a minute to take and send me a picture, so I would have one from today. I hope your first day of college classes goes well, Kid!

We visited Laura to take a small load of things to her, including her laptop. After we had everything unpacked and put away, we took a walk around the campus to find the buildings where Laura will have classes. It was my first time seeing the campus, and I really liked the atmosphere. I think the last piece of the puzzle is working out her roommate situation. Once there is resolution to that, I think she is really going to love SEMO.

It was really hard to not be there for Laura’s first college marching band performance, but at least we got to watch it live on Facebook. It took some looking, but I finally found her in that “Sea of Red.” Admittedly, it was really weird not seeing her in purple, but all good things eventually come to an end. It is time for all the Kassels to embrace the change and learn a new fight song led by SEMO’s largest marching band ever (80 freshman!). Go Redhawks!

We are prepping to deliver some things to Laura at SEMO on Sunday. This is a bed rail and a shelf for her bed.

We also have varying other things like a monitor and other computer-related things, more storage, and snacks.

Now that we have a context for room size, we can actually get her a few more comforts of home.