Packing up for college

Rachel's room is just about packed up. She's got a pile of boxes/stuff to take to college, a pile of boxes/stuff to put in the storage room, and a suitcase to live out of for the next few days. 

The kids are all anxious about her leaving—excited to take over her space and scared about how much they're going to miss her.

Things are tense, but sometimes better when Andrew's working with her than when I am. When Andrew's down there he and Rachel and Miriam tend to laugh and joke. When I'm down there we all tend to break down sobbing together. 

It's fine. 

Vacuum packing things is incredible. We put Rachel's entire dresser in one bag and shrunk it down to a little slab of clothing. We put all of her bedding in another bag, sucked all the air out, and now it's completely portable. Same thing with her closet. 

Why we didn't think of using vacuum packs before is beyond me—it's an incredible bit of technology. 

She's worried that she's bringing too many clothes to fit in her dresser (absurd because they all came from her dresser here), but she's also worried about being cold because she's such a southern belle—not used to cold weather. So I told her to just bring all her sweaters and things because if she finds that things aren't fitting in her dresser well she can pick a season of clothes (winter or summer) and vacuum pack them away to slip under her bed or into her closet until she needs them.

I haven't quite known where we were going to put the boxes of Rachel's stuff that she wants to keep here, but now I'm thinking I'll pull out the boxes of baby clothes that I can't seem to part with (because my kids will definitely want them someday—right?) and vacuum pack those and then Rachel's clothes can go where those boxes once were. 

It's not like I kept everything my children ever wore, but with six babies...and several outfits for each child that I feel like they might want some day...it adds up. 

Another exciting thing has been finding things that I've lent the girls over the years that they've never returned. So far I've found a blouse and an undershirt and a belt of mine. 

We cleared Rachel's shoe shelf in the closet and put two small bins on the bottom shelf (one for Alexander and one for Phoebe). Now everyone has a place for their shoes and no one is living out of a bag hanging on the closet door knob (Phoebe has had her shoes on the door knob for her entire life). 

We also pointed out to the girls (Rachel and Miriam)—who still mix their laundry—that they'll be on their own for laundry for the first time in their lives. They've shared a laundry basket their whole lives (aside from a short interlude in Spanish Fork when they didn't share a room together) and have always shared the task of doing laundry. The younger kids all have their own laundry baskets because now that Benjamin and Zoë are in charge of washing their own clothes they haven't wanted to wash their much younger sibling's clothes (fair). Rachel and Miriam were like, "Wait...we haven't had to do laundry together this whole time? This could have saved so many arguments! Prevented so many clothing mix-ups!"

They just never thought of splitting because they've simply always been together.

It's really, really strange to think about splitting that pair up and sending Rachel off on this next phase of life...but it's coming up quickly...mere days away. 

I don't like it one bit.

But it's fine.

It's fine.

Rachel will do great out there!