Connor's Fall Semester Move in Day - Freshman Year - 2025

Friday was a big day for Connor and something we've been preparing for a long time. Although he did do the summer semester for six weeks, somehow the Fall Semester at college just seems more "real" and momentous. The summer semester was a good trial run for living in a dorm, and after his experiences, Andrea did some shopping with him to get everything he'd need to make his new place comfortable and practical.

The drive to Tallahassee was a bit awful for Connor and me. We drove in the "Grey Goose" Model Y and Andrea drove "Tessie" for the last time, the Model X. The lease for the Model X ended the day after Connor's move-in, so it was nice timing to still have the larger vehicle available for the move. Andrea was a little behind us initially, and when we got stuck in traffic for over and hour, Andrea got re-routed and ended up beating us by a lot. A big truck carrying logs had overturned, and it took a long time to clear the roadway.

We made it to the McAlister's for lunch, and then we arrived at the dorm. Connor checked in, got his key, took a pic for his ID card, and then we did a quick peek at his dorm to make sure we could actually get in before we started unloading. The dorm setup is fairly unique and Connor is in the "loft" section where he shares a kitchen and living room with two other suite-mates, but he has his own private room.

We unpacked the Model X first, and then swapped spots so we could unload the Model Y. The road by Connor's dorm is a one-way street with no parking available, and it was fairly well organized by a few staff members that kept things moving. Since I was still recovering from surgery, I was limited in what I could lift and do, but I did my best to be useful. Without any issues we got everything unloaded and indoors.

Once the cars were parked and everything was inside, the real work began. Andrea rolled up her sleeves and dug into the unpleasant task of deep cleaning his bathroom. The dorm had been cleaned and painted recently, but we didn't trust the process, and Andrea worked hard to disinfect and bring it up to a higher standard.

We put together quite a few new bits of furniture, unrolled the carpet, vacuumed the entire first floor, and unpacked all of Connor's things. We got a little frustrated at times because important things had been misplaced and believed forgotten, but eventually most were found. For example, the weird special cord for Connor's calculator, the power cord for one of his monitors, the ethernet cable for his PC, and his keychain for his dorm keys. We found most of it, except for the ethernet cable, which I'd specifically told Connor to pack up. Connor thought his desktop had a wireless modem, which it does not, so we had to order an ethernet cable from Target as well as a few other things.

The keychain incident was actually the highlight of my day. When we moved Connor in to his dorm for the summer session, it was the first time he had to keep track of a physical key and carry it constantly. We made multiple special trips around town to find him a keychain that would work with an Apple Airtag tracker so he could find his keys if he misplaced them or lost them. It was a whole ordeal. Imagine our consternation on Fall semester move-in day, when we told Connor to put his new dorm keys on the keychain and he said that he didn't know where it was, that he didn't bring it. I was irate with him, gave him a whole lecture on how he should be able to find the keys with his app, made him pull the app up, so we could make sure the keys were in fact at home. Imagine our surprise when the app said that the keys were nearby. We sent a command to the keys to make a sound and we could hear it beeping somewhere close to us. I was searching around, following the sound, and then Connor pulled the keychain out of his pocket. He'd had it all along! His work key was on it, and somehow he forgot that he had it. A classic Connor moment, and I both could and couldn't believe it. It was funny in a frustrating kind of way, but we were relieved that he had the keychain. 

Finally, we were finished! Connor was pleased with how the room turned out, and it looks like it will be a very comfortable space for him. 

We went to Momo's Pizza for dinner, which was an amazing choice and super delicious. Afterwards, we picked up a few things from Target and CVS before dropping Connor off at his dorm. 

We gave Connor a hug and a kiss, wished him luck, told him to make good choices and to have fun. It's the start of an exciting chapter for our boy, and we hope that he makes the most of his amazing opportunity and enjoys his time away at school this year.