A Cardinal In The House

Katie has made her choice.

Sheila here. We're about to become University of Louisville Cardinal fans at my house. Anyone got a flag?

This week, U of L opened up its enrollment for Freshman Orientation (gulp!). My stomach did a little flip when I was signing up Katie and myself for a session this summer. I cannot believe we have reached this point! Seems like yesterday that Katie was terrified about her first day of high school (and I was crying in the parking lot), and now she can't wait to move out of our house and into her dorm in Louisville! She's been chatting on Facebook with her roommate, and we've been looking at comforter sets in the middle of prom dress shopping. Those rooms have come a long way. Katie and her new friends will be in a suite with just four girls to a bathroom. At Ohio U., my friends and I had to get comfortable with the communal showers, not that I ever did. Those girls will have a microwave and flatscreen TV. We had hot plates, and we were lucky if we had the money to get a phone installed! And the prom dresses? Let's just say we've come a long way since the days when Gunne Sax gowns were on the cover of Seventeen Magazine.

I've always loved Louisville - 4th Street Live, great restaurants, all things Derby, the riverboats. However, I had never visited the campus until last summer, when Katie and I were on our series of college tours from Chicago to Kentucky and in between. A little part of me hoped she would choose my alma mater in Athens, but knowing what a city girl she is, U of L is a good choice. We both had a positive feeling there, and we all know how important it is to go with your gut.

Funny how her senior year of high school has been giving me and Ric a taste of what's to come. Katie spends so much time with her friends, or at her job, or holed up in her room doing homework and cruising Facebook that we don't see her as much as we used to. If I want to spend time with her, most of the time, I have to schedule it. But at least I can peek in at her sleeping or give her a kiss as she goes out the door. It will be hard for me when she leaves.

So right now I am treasuring every minute we have with Katie, even if it's crazy busy getting ready for graduation, and I guess I'll watch some Louisville basketball this week. Go Cardinals!