Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

My baby brother Matthew

 (December 1991)

 Today was the day we took him to college.

He's going to be a freshman at Christopher Newport University, which is in the Newport News/Virginia Beach/Williamsburg area of Virginia. Since I knew that having Spencer and me there when they were trying to move everything in would be a DEE-saster, we left a few hours earlier than then and visited some of my friends in the area.

Our first stop was to see my friend Jenny, who just had her own baby Matthew two weeks ago.  I was so mad at myself because I forgot my camera, but trust me, he's a cute little guy.  He was born a few weeks early, so he's he very tiny, but I got to hold him and smell that sweet baby smell!  Spencer was actually really good around him- I thought she'd want to hold him and "play" with him, but she was more interested in playing with Jenny than Matthew, haha! She did give him a little kiss on the cheek and wanted to tickle his feet, but otherwise, she only had eyes for Jenny.  It was so nice to see Jenny and her precious little one. We stayed there for about an hour before heading off to our next destination- Casa Toni!

We went to see my friend Stephie at her parent's house and enjoyed an afternoon of swimming in their pool and eating lunch.  It was great to see her family again and Spence had a blast swimming.  They made us a lovely spread for lunch and it felt just like old times back in college.  Spencer had so much fun playing with Dylan, Steph's 6 year old nephew, and I think she has a little crush on him because she keeps on talking about him, haha! Hopefully we'll get down there one more time before the summer is over and when we can spend a little longer than a few hours.

Steph's parents only live a few minutes from CNU, so it didn't take us very long to get there- which was good, because Spence had had her fill of being in the car.  I found my brother's new dorm and as we walked to his room memories were flooding my mind of being in college.  Everyone looked so excited and for a few seconds I was jealous of them.  But then I snapped out of it and put on my happy face- because I really am happy for my brother.  I hope and pray that these next four years are as wonderful for him as my college years were for me.

 (Can you believe that's how my mom dressed us for Easter?  I thought I'd post this uber-embarrassing picture of me, circa 1993, so Matthew doesn't get mad at me for just showing his funny, but cute, pictures.)

It was mad chaos in his room- boxes, crates, trash, you name it, and it was in that tiny 12x10 room.  I helped do a few things, unpacked his clothes, hung up some things on the walls, and tried to organize his DVD collection- but it became pretty apparent that the less people in the room the better, so I figured we should say our goodbyes. I didn't cry, even though I wanted to.  I knew Matt wouldn't want me to cry because it would set off my mom's overactive waterworks (she was a tad emotional), so I bit my cheek, gave him a hug, and told him I loved him. Then, when no one could see, I let a few tears escape in the elevator.

Spencer slept for the entire hour and half ride back to Richmond and we finally got home around seven.  It was a long emotional day, but certainly one that I'll remember forever.  We said hello to new baby Matthew and waved goodbye to my own always-will-be-a-baby-to-me Matthew.