A Sweet Good-Bye to College Bound Mallory

Before heading to Riverfest on Friday with the twins (see previous post) we had a little good-bye party for Mallory who will be leaving for Whitewater in a few short days. We had little good-bye parties for both Courtney and Alissa when they were leaving for Knox and IWU. I asked people to bring some little gift that would remind them of home and our love for them. I wanted them to take these little tokens along to school and be able to remember how much we loved and missed them especially on those difficult days when home seemed so far away. I wanted to give Mallory the same send off. We started the party off with mom's infamous ice cream cake which was enjoyed by all of us. We posed for a few pictures with Mallory.

Of course, the girls had to have a few crazy moments together.

We started our party in the house until Mallory opened the first present from Tizita. It was a fart bag and the smell sent all of us scurrying our of the house. We continued the gift opening on the patio in the fresh air.

Courtney and Paul chose a beautiful mug with a very meaningful sentiment on it. They figured every college girl needs a mug.

Alissa and Nathan gifted Mallory with a dice drinking game and a cedar box from the Dells. Two more gifts that a college girl needs.I chose to give Mallory three very important reminders of some of our great times together. I gave her a pair of nude booties to remind her of one of our crazy trips to Chicago, I gave her a gourd to remind her of the time I broke a shekeree at the Milwaukee Museum, and the best one of all, was four little tarts to remind her of an incident that I had with a tart in Chicago on another one of our crazy trips there. Tizita was thrilled to hear the girls retell the stories from these three items. We laughed a lot that afternoon. I think Mallory will have some good memories of home and this crazy Aunt when she sees these gifts in her dorm room.

I had also given Courtney and Alissa a shoe box filled with 20 small, wrapped gifts to be opened on days when they were feeling homesick and just needed a gentle reminder that someone back at home was loving and missing them. I did the same thing for Mallory. My girls both still have that shoe box. Both of them opened a few gifts over the four years of college, but they knew they always had that box of reminders of home just in case they needed them. I hope Mallory does not need to open many of her gifts either, but they are there just in case.

After the gift opening, the girls played a bit of dress up. That is one thing that they have all enjoyed doing together ever since Mallory was a little girl. As you can see, Tiz fits right in with the fun.

I will leave you with this picture of four business women.

I will miss Mallory when she goes to college. She has been much like a third daughter to me especially when my two left for college. John and I enjoyed taking Mallory with us to museums, zoos, malls, and restaurants. She filled our empty nest. Mallory taught me so much about technology and we spent an entire summer playing Toontown and Neopets.

Yep, I am going to miss her, but I know she has an exciting future waiting for her and it is her time to go off and pursue it.

Good-bye Mallory, I will miss you.