good job

Ace is moved in, she's now a temporary Tennesean.
After four days of adventuring with my daughter and my 'rents. I learned a few things:

1. Being in a minivan with your parents for four days is not a vacation. Don't romanticize, not too much, anyway. It is, after all a minivan, they are your parents, it's four days, you will need some good coffee, a good workout in the mornings and you'll definitely need some time to watch cable tv in the hotel room.
2. When it's time to go, go quickly, don't take your time or drag your feet or dawdle or add on any tasks to extend the goodbye.
   
3. While the goal of being a parent is to raise someone so they can be independent, even when you know they are ready to go and you have complete faith in them, it's hard to go quickly. You will want to drag your feet, dawdle, and extend the last few moments as long as possible. Just do your best to walk away without crying. I made it about 5 feet before I lost it. Luckily, Ace was happily joining her welcome group and I was almost to the parking garage, so I ducked into the stairwell, and climbed a few flights so I could get out of breath a bit and calm down and get a little tired. It was the "you did a good job, Mom" as she hugged me good bye that got me, still I'm glad she said it.

So, now it's time for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow I'll be on the road for about 8 hours or so, in that minivan, the last minivan I hope to spend any time in for a long time.