1000 Hopes for Waco
Well, the 4th Annual Waco Trip is done! Three years ago my son and I drove there to start his freshman year at Baylor University, and now he’s a senior. I have to be honest and say this entire trip was tinged with sadness for me. It truly broke my heart to say goodbye to my son his freshman year, but it was also an exciting beginning for him, and all of us. I immediately became a “Baylor Mom,” and my son embraced college life. He loved Baylor almost right away, and on my yearly visits, I grew to love Waco- what a weird, funny, and amazing little town. In the beginning our time at Baylor seemed to stretch in front of us forever… and now it’s over. I mean- I’m not trying to rush this year away. There’s a lot happening and I want my son to experience and appreciate every second of it, but really, it’s over. I know how fast it’s going to go, and the focus has already shifted to what comes next. Endings always make me sad. Then, every year it’s apparent that my son needs me less and less. Freshman year he REALLY needed me to help him move in- he literally did not know a single person at Baylor when he arrived. He also didn’t have a car that year, so I spent move-in day driving him around to various stores to get all the things he needed for his room. Sophomore year, he still really needed me. Now he had his own car, but had to get it to Texas, so it made sense to drive with him again. He was also moving into an apartment, which meant he needed all sorts of things that weren’t required in a dorm room, so we had a lot of shopping to do. I think that was my favorite year. Junior year, he was moving into a house. He didn’t need as many new things, but he did appreciate my help in getting his things out of storage and moving them into the new place. This year… he didn’t really need help at all. He had driven his car home from Texas in the spring, so he would have been fully capable of driving back by himself. And he kept the lease on his house all summer, which meant he was just going back to it. There was no move in or new things that he needed. All we had to do was arrive in Waco, and he was set. That seemed like a good thing, but it turns out I liked it better when I had more to do. Moms like taking care of their kids, even when the kids are adults. I was aware that my presence wasn’t really necessary, and that was hard. Don’t worry- we did have a good time on this trip, and I did some things I really enjoyed (more on that coming up.) But now that it’s over, the feeling of sadness lingers, and it’s just one of those sadnesses that has to linger until it’s time for it to stop. Or, it may never fully disappear, but will become less sharp over time. Last year I had a mission to find all the Waco murals, but I was missing one, and I found it this year- “1000 Hopes for Waco.” Unfortunately a tree has grown right in the middle of it since it was painted in 2018, but I was still happy to finally see it. In this article the artist says “In Waco… we’ve survived just about everything, but at this point… we have our wings up and are about to ascend and take off.” Ah, Waco- we will meet again, one last time, when we go up in May for graduation.