This was not easy to do.

I was kind of dreading it for a while - mostly because of the fact that it was a big step in our daughter’s life and it was going to be hard for me emotionally.

But there was the other aspect of ‘is this going to be a huge pain in the neck or what?’

There were a lot of connections to be made - flights, rental cars, retrieval of shipped items, putting together pieces of furniture, and then the actual move-in-to-the-dorm process.

And I have to say, all of it went rather smoothly.

I’m not going to get into the emotional stuff because that’s personal but I will share plenty about the move-in process.

First of all, we’re lucky because my friends Kevin and Danielle live in Columbia, South Carolina, and they have offered up their home as kind of a home base for Lillian’s belongings. So a lot of the stuff she ordered she just shipped straight there so we didn’t have to pack it and travel with it.

Also, since Kathy flies so much for work she gets all of these little bonuses like free checked bags. So we checked three big suitcases, and then carried on a couple more for all of the clothing and other little things, and then when we landed we had a pretty big car (it was a Ford Expedition) to load it all up in to go to Kevin and Danielle’s.

This was a real whirlwind trip - arrive Thursday, move in Friday, and we left Saturday. (With one fewer person, obviously.)

Thursday we made a trip to Target and got some groceries and little extra things for the dorm room, then at the house we unpacked all of the boxes that were shipped, and I put together a nightstand, and that was about it.

Move-in was really smooth. This was early move-in for some other on-campus activities happening this week, so that helped ease the process. We pulled up, emptied the car (everything made it in one trip and we could have packed more if necessary), and she checked in, got her key, and then I parked the car in a campus lot.

We had most of the room set up by the time her roommate arrived, and then we made one more Target trip for some other odds and ends. (Target was busy but it wasn’t the nightmare I expected.)

She had a dorm meeting and we hung around and had dinner together before we departed.

Kathy and I decided to get a hotel for the night close to the airport - we flew in and out of Charlotte, 90 minutes away from Columbia - which was a pretty good move as far as making Saturday morning easier.

And that’s it - we now have a daughter living away at college.

I think she’s going to have a great time. The more I thought about it the more I realized that it was kind of obvious when we visited in April how well she fit there.

I like it there too.

At one point on Thursday we popped by campus to kill some time. I bought a sweatshirt. And we drove by the football stadium.

I don’t know if I can make a football game work this year.

But it would be a big failure if I don’t get down here for one in the next four years - maybe even before next year.

And having one move-in now under my belt at least makes one part of the college experience easier for me. That emotional piece is not likely to get any easier,