It’s 11 p.m.

I drove for seven hours today.

Not full straight through, but at 1 p.m.

we left Donnie at Emerson.

And at 7 something we pulled into the house.

Some of that was we spent about 45 or so minutes charging the car on the way home.

But a lot of that was insane traffic.

There was basically traffic the entire ride from Boston back to Jerusalem.

I would say that sucked a metric ton.

I’m still mad about it.

I’m recording this outside my house as I let the dog out one final time to bring in the mail and then get ready to go to sleep.

But tomorrow when I mix this with whatever my tomorrow thoughts are, I’ll talk more about the actual process of dropping Ani off and all that stuff.

It was crazy.

But I did okay.

I didn’t lose it.

As we drove to college, Lauren and I each had moments of emotion.

And while we were there we had some moments.

But when it was time to drop Ani off and say goodbye, it was misty-eyed but not sobbing.

So that’s good, I guess.

Your Daily Lex All right, that first part was recorded last night on my cell phone when I was outside.

I was pretty punchy.

And I know the audio quality is weird.

And I’m choosing to include it because why not?

I recorded for that purpose.

So there you go.

But the college drop-off went well.

The drive there was so much easier.

The drive home took forever.

But, you know, it was kind of fun.

We had an evening in Boston.

Went out to dinner with Ani to a classic restaurant that Lauren and I used to go to when we were in college.

And then Ani’s move-in slot was 7.30 in the morning on Monday morning.

No, on Tuesday morning.

And I’m an early person.

And I was like, let’s get there at like, let’s leave our room at 7.

Our hotel was one minute, one and a half minutes by car from Emerson.

And there’s no parking in Emerson.

So the idea was drive to Emerson so we have all of Ani’s stuff there easily.

And then Lauren and Ani would get out of the car.

The stuff comes out of the car.

And then we…

I have to drive the car back to the hotel parking lot since there’s no parking.

And then meet them.

And I’m like, let’s leave our room at 7.

So we get there at like 7.12.

And we are the first family to pull up.

And there’s this whole group of student volunteers out there.

And they’re clapping when they realize that we’re coming.

And they say to Ani…

First they say, can we talk to your student?

I’m like, go ahead.

And then they’re like, can we share your freedom?

And I was like, okay.

And they’re like, what’s your name?

And I was like, Ani Friedman.

And so the ringleader’s like, hey, everybody.

Ani’s student is coming to Emerson.

And they all start cheering for Ani.

And that was the first time I got choked up that day, I think.

Then apparently they gave Ani a pamphlet with some info that said, welcome home.

And that got Lauren choked up.

I didn’t see that right away because I was moving the car back and forth.

Or moving the car back and then me forth.

Moving the car forth and me back.

You get it.

The idea.

It’s fine.

Then we get to work unpacking Ani.

Ani’s roommate had already moved in.

That’s an international student.

So got to come a couple days early, whatever.

Took the better desk, but it was fine.

It’s fine.

Everything’s fine.

But we get it unpacked.

The room’s looking really nice.

Emerson had sent a bunch of info ahead of time for parents.

And they’re like, you know, your kid’s going to get more annoyed with you than they typically do.

During move-in.

That was true.

Like Ani wasn’t a jerk, but Ani also wasn’t like our biggest fan either.

It was fine.

But they were, you know, enjoying the kind of unpacking stuff and figuring out where things should go and wanting us to make some decisions, wanting themselves to make some decisions.

It all worked out.

But the room looked really cool.

We did a couple other things we had to do in there.

You know, Emerson had said ahead of time, let your student do the talking.

Like they’re in charge now.

It’s not you.

So we did a lot of that and it really went well.

And eventually around lunchtime we left.

And that was it.

We wouldn’t see Ani again until the next day.

They had some meeting for parents and families where they had acting students perform different phone calls you might get from your student and then advice on how to reply.

And a woman who was like beloved at Emerson, who we had seen speak before, spoke again.

And they also announced that she was retiring.

And that was sad because she is great.

She is a lady who when she went to college on the very first day, some other kids were unloading their refrigerator off a truck and dropped it on her head.

And she was in the hospital for five days with brain trauma.

Those were her first five days of orientation.

And she turned out great.

So your student will too.

That’s my takeaway on the moral.

But yeah, it was good.

After that thing, then you go and have one final lunch with your student and then you leave.

And that was hard.

But I still mostly kept it together.

I’d say it got misty-eyed but did not break down.

And then, yeah, drove home for 75 hours.

But I’m trying not to text Ani too, too much.

Especially right now.

It’s brand new.

I want Ani to do their own thing and get excited and figure stuff out and not be too in their face, I guess you would say.

But Ani’s also sending us questions.

And when there’s books that need ordering, those come to me so I can find the best price and get them shipped as quickly as possible.

All good.

But yeah, I have a kid in college.

It’s insane.

That’s what I got for you today.

Lex!