Dropping my son off at college sucked, despite my preparation for this moment since he was 2-years-old and starting preschool. My son refused to enter the classroom and was physically removed from me as we both cried. He encored this performance every year through kindergarten, when he refused to get on the school bus and I chased him up and down the muddy front yard in my heels and suit, as an entire busload of kids pressed their noses against the windows, staring in disbelief. Smaller and faster than me, he ran back home and locked me out of the house.
Thirteen years later, I was banking on him not refusing to enter the dorm and to stay put. As it turns out, he wasn’t the problem.