Joey's First Overnight Camp

I sort of forgot about another big July happening....Joey's first overnight basketball camp. He's been invited to go to this in the past but he never had great interest in being away from home. This year, he was game for it! He just got a phone, so we knew he could keep in contact with us so that made us feel a little better too! He had a couple of Sacred Heart friends, a basketball friend, and a "friend of a friend" join us.

We made the long trip there with a car full of boys and luggage....we barely fit and everyone was uncomfortable. But, the boys chattered and sang and played on their phones and it was fun just listening.

The boys were SO excited to get their dorm room keys and to see their dorm rooms. I don't know what they had pictured in their heads, but by their reaction, it was not this:

The boys were so giddy and so excited for us to just leave them....we went over snacks, deoderant, showering, dirty clothes, bedtime, phone use, etc.  And, following camp, we found out that all of our advice literally went in one ear and out the other....they did not shower every day, they did not always use deoderant, they did not go to bed when we said. BUT- they were never late for practice and found their way around campus just fine!

Joey texted very rarely. They were very short. After two days, I finally had to tell Stephanie Reinhardt to tell Gabe to tell Joey to CALL HOME! : ) It made me think that he's never going to check in during college and I will lose him forever. Ahhhhhhhhh!!! He looked so old when he told me goodbye....he literally was pushing me out the door saying "got it, mom, bye, mom, okay, mom, see you, mom, i'll be safe, mom."  I cannot stand this kind of craziness called giving your kids more independence. It's all dumb and I hate it. I missed him like crazy. He should never go to college.