Zoë’s Launch

Been waiting for this moment since high school began. 

Zoë asked me to drive her to college at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. You should have seen the grin on my face. 

My car is fairly small, and she said we’d be able to fit everything inside. I pulled my ‘Father Knows Best’ card and borrowed a Yakima Skybox from buddy Dave. 

Before…

After…

Sometimes it just takes an engineer…

Goodbye 97703, hello 97520. 

180 miles gone in a flash, we talked the whole time. Then it’s arrival, Shasta Hall.

4 quick trips, and the car is empty. Now it’s time to unpack. 

That canvas above the pillow? Her own creation. Later, I see the artwork below in the student center, and I wonder if someone is already pirating her stuff. 

Some kids didn’t get the ‘no maid service’ memo. 

After a parent meet and greet with the dean, Spanky and I do a bookstore tour. I figure she’s ready to head off on her own, but she stuns me by asking if I’ll go to lunch with her in the dining hall. 

Yes, please. 

And the food is amazing!

Year-round ice rink up the road in Medford. I’m sure she’ll be there often. 

Nom nom nom…

Her mailbox in the middle. I imagine she will accept baked goods. 

Already looks like she owns the place!

Doing what I do best. 

She has a way with words. 

The students waiting for the convocation, my kid shuckin’ and jivin’ with the best of them. 

I’m up in the bleachers waiting for the ceremony to begin, and she sends me this. 

My kid knows what’s important. 

Putting backs on each seats means these folks pay attention to detail….I think Hayward Field copied them. 

You can’t tell, but they are spelling out ‘SOU’ for the school’s 150th anniversary. 

As I’m driving away with a lump in my throat the size of Texas, I realize I forgot to get that final picture with her. For a moment, I continue outbound. Then I realize this is one of those moments you never get back….so, tires squealing and an unauthorized U-Turn later, there’s this…

From here…

To here….19 July 2012 and 19 Sept 2022. 

The aforementioned lump in my throat is composed of 0% sadness and 100% elation. I had been thinking about this day for years; the day my daughter heads out of town and starts living almost entirely on her own terms. The day that I have a big, BIG drink and toast my daughter’s future, as unlimited as the universe. That day was 19 September 2022. 

Can’t wait to see what Zoë does from here on out. Future Vogue editor…..Art Teacher……Fashion Editor…..it all spells ‘Badass Creator of Cool Stuff.’

You go, girl. 

(Oh, there’s this….after her first art class, she calls to tell me that no one else in the class has sold a painting. She sold three after her first art show a year ago for around $800). 

STFB. 

(Stand By). 

Post-script…and I can’t believe I forgot this…..a week before heading down, I mailed a short note to Zoe’s mailbox. I planned on leaving a second note as I departed campus…I wrote that note in my AirBnb room….after the convocation, I looked for the note and could not find it anywhere in my car or luggage. So I wrote a third note, then talked my way into the campus post office to deliver it. Later, I texted my berthing host and asked them to look around the apartment. He found it…..in the driveway with a tire print! He asked if I wanted him to change envelopes before sending it, and of course I said no way!!!

How fitting. 

🤣