Merit Weekend at the University of Kentucky is in full swing. Cody, Tiffany, and I spent the afternoon at UK to get Cody started with his preregistration for fall classes. Prior to this, the kind folks at UK had set up a big screen in the auditorium at the Singletary Center so we could watch the UK-LSU basketball game while we waited for the first session to begin.

As part of the welcoming remarks, we learned that over 900 students will participate in either this weekend’s or next weekend’s Merit Weekend, and while many of those students are from Kentucky, there were 24 other states represented. The moderator read the list of states represented, and I realized my little pity party of last night pales in comparison to what some of these other parents must be going through.

The states surrounding Kentucky were represented, and while those students will have a little farther to go to get home for holidays and breaks, there are going to be a lot of students who will only get to go home for holidays and breaks. There were students there from California, which is about a six-hour plane trip from Lexington, considering most flights to California are routed through Texas and there’s often a short layover.

So last night while I was lamenting that my baby will be in Lexington in the fall, I’ll still get to see him every weekend (trust me, he will come home every weekend), there were other parents who were likely stressing out as the realization hit them that they would only see their kids every couple of months. I feel for them. Don’t get me wrong; I still feel sorry for myself, too, but I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to take your child across the country and leave him or her. Taking Cody to Murray was bad enough, and that was just across the state.

After the introductory session, I felt a little more bummed because not only was I feeling sorry for myself but I was also feeling sorry for all those other parents, but then we went to the engineering department meeting. The fine folks there managed to lift my spirits. Jane and Diane have a great sense of humor. They made me laugh, which made me feel better. But they also made Cody laugh, and that made me feel even better. Jane and Diane are the two ladies who will be the advisors for the freshmen engineering students. It’s a good sign that they can make Cody laugh; he can be a tough audience sometimes.

Jane and Diane have already done the hard work; they’ve created schedules for all the engineering students who will be participating in the two Merit Weekends. All the kids have to do tomorrow is approve them. The kids can make changes if they want, but we don’t have to spend hours going through the schedule book to find classes, days, and times. We don’t have to second guess if this or that class would be the better one to take now. Cody just has to look over the schedule, ask any questions he may have, and agree to it.

So, tonight, we’ll sit here and relax, and we’ll be back at UK at 8:15 in the morning. There’s a full day of activities planned, but when it’s all done, Cody will have a schedule for the fall semester. That is rather exciting. After this, all we have to do is mail in his housing application and await his housing assignment. Then we can rest easy until August 17, which is freshmen move-in day.

And tonight when I say my prayers, I’m going to remember all those families who are here from out of state; this has to be more difficult for them than for me. I’m also going be thankful for Jane and Diane and all the hard work they do for the engineering students. Finally, I’m definitely going to be thankful that none of my children wanted to attend college on the other side of the country.