Well, the bird has flown the nest. Her room is empty. The theater posters on the walls remain along with books and some clothes but the tops of the dresser, desk, and nightstand are oddly uncluttered. For the most part, Kat doesn't live here anymore.

The move-in was amazingly smooth. Knox College did a better job facilitating move-in than any institution I was ever associated with before. Move-in at Michigan State University, my undergraduate alma mater, was a free-for-all. New York University Law School was only marginally better. At Knox, however, getting all the information was easy and within one room. Mr. Philately and I found a bench and sat while Kat made her way around. Getting the stuff in was similarly easy. We pulled up our car and two guys in a tractor who were pulling a cart came over. They helped unload the car and hauled the stuff to the entrance of the residence hall. Kat's roommate, who had come in early for sports, helped us haul things up to the top floor. The other good news was that the fourth floor is really the third.

After helping her unpack, we all headed for lunch. I ran into a girl I had seen near choir signups who had been singing songs from "Wicked." Her mother was trying to figure out who to sit with. I snagged them because I had a feeling that the girl and Kat would get along well. Kat was a little slow to warm up but once they got going, it clicked, at least for now.

After lunch, Mr. Philately and I left. We did not attend the parent events because we had to get back for the wedding of one of Mr. Philately's good friends. The parent activities looked like they were mainly designed to get the parents to stop hovering so we figured we were doing Knox a favor by leaving early.

As we left, Kat and the girl from lunch were chattering together as they walked down the hallway and headed off to each one's suite meeting at their respective residence halls. The girl's mother, who was sending off her baby, and we, who were sending off our oldest, watched them walk away. Then we turned and walked out to our cars.

It was time. She's off.

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