Somehow the four-month summer has vanished in a surreal flash, and CJ is scheduled to return to college in three days.  This time I am accompanying him without Mr. Neurotic Parent or GC (Good Conversationalist, our new name for our younger son, previously known as BH). 

Many of CJ's friends are already back at school, and now that they're big sophomores, many have set up their rooms without their parents.  With this in mind, I asked CJ whether he really wanted me to go with him, and was thrilled to find out that he did. 

"I think you should come," he said, "because if you don't, I probably will go the whole year without unpacking,"  But he warned me that he would not be available for lunches or dinners, and other than for runs to Super Target, he would not pay any attention to me at all. 

I do not like to think of myself as a "Velcro parent," who are presumably even more involved than the helicopters of the '00's.  According to a piece in today's NYT called "Students, Welcome to College; Mom and Dad, Go Home," many schools are now instituting "Parting Ceremonies" to prevent mothers and fathers from attending classes with their kids or going to the registrar to change their classes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/education/23college.html?_r=1

I actually see myself as a mom who CAN separate (I was even the first to make it to Starbucks during Mommy and Me), but when I glanced at my Southwest itinerary, I was horrified to find out that I had scheduled THREE nights to help CJ move in to his new dorm.  And changing my ticket at this point is a lose-lose scenario because the "Web Only" fares are long gone.  

So, if you're near CJ's college this weekend, and you want to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee and/or drinks, you can find me hiding out in my hotel room, unvelcro-ing myself.