College

When Kellen was little, I read an email about parents driving their daughter to her first year of college. They made it a family trip and so their younger son with Down syndrome came along. They carried everything up to their daughter's room and got her settled. Their son picked out a bed and figured he would move in too. He was very sad to hear that this was an adventure his sister would be taking without him and he was destined to go back home with mom and dad. That story broke my heart every time I thought about it.

Fast forward to last September. Our daughter chose a private college about 45 minutes from our house and would be living on campus. The university had two days of orientation activities. We left Kellen in school so as not to disrupt his life too much, while Sweet Husband and I attended the festivities. At 4pm on Friday it was made clear by the schedule that it was time for parents to kiss their students good-bye and go home. Many tears (by me) ensued. We drove back home and took Kellen out for pizza. In the middle of the meal Kellen suddenly burst into tears. He hardly ever cries so this really took us by surprise. He was on and off emotional for a week or so, until he got to go visit his sister at school for the first time.

He enjoyed rearranging her DVDs (yes, students take DVDs to school with them these days!) on her shelf. He christened her room with one of his signature, aromatic farts, and we were off. Now every time he hears D.Q's name he says simply, "D.Q at college" and leaves it at that.

Our home is much quieter and calmer without our Drama Queen around. Kellen responds well to this. On the other hand, he loves it when his sister comes home for a visit. One of their favorite things to do together is watch T.V. The other day I looked over at them sitting on the couch. D.Q. was watching the television while Kellen was
lovingly watching her.