Being ready

Packing for college is a complicated procedure, especially when it involves sorting the contents of a room you've lived in since you were in Kindergarten.

It might not seem organized, but it is. And it has to fit into the car.

In the rain.

With a delirious puppy.

And then, a few hours later, you find yourself in a familiar motel in Rhinebeck, and you know that tomorrow you'll open the door into an unfamiliar world that's full of possibility. Your stomach might hurt a little, and you might be a little scared, but you're ready.

• • •

When I made the trip from home, in the suburbs of Washington DC, to college in Philadelphia on that September day in 1972, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. Why had I done this? What made me think art school was a good idea? Could we just go home now? Wait. Maybe I'll stay. I'll have to stay; I went through a lot to get here. I'm supposed to stay. I guess I'm ready.

Judy, I think, was ready. She was determined to grab the doorknob and open the door. She's always been that way, and I saw it the minute I met her.

At the other end of the road

Rebecca & Rachel: The Remarkable R's

It dawned on us, on Judy and me, that our 40th year of friendship was remarkable in another way, too. We met each other on the day we began our lives as college students, and now, 40 years later, we're preparing to launch Judy's daughters on their own new lives as college students.

Rachel and Rebecca are 18 years old, so they've been a part of this friendship for nearly half of its existence. And they've spent a good part of that time in a car with us. We drove them to sleep when they were babies. We had adventures, trips to Maryland, drives "up island" to shop, excursions to Montauk and the Walking Dunes. We traveled to Western Massachusetts to see Hancock Shaker Village, their brother Michael along for the adventure. We've done errands, gone shopping, and just driven around.

The four of us must have spent thousands of hours together in the car, just going someplace.

But by far our favorite road trips have been the treks we make every year to the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck. We began to go when the R's were still in diapers, and before long it was A Tradition.

When we get in the car on that third Friday afternoon in October, we settle in, begin our treasured routine. We laugh, the girls pretend they'd rather listen to music, we think we're going to make a wrong turn on our way to the Saw Mill River Parkway. We are comfortable, happy, excited to be together and having this adventure again.

We love it so much that every year, as we turn to head home, we're planning what we'll do next year. And every year, Judy and I are a little surprised, somewhat relieved, and extremely happy that the girls still love it as much as we do.

So here we are, getting ready for another kind of road trip. Come August we're going to pack the car, not once but twice, and deliver these Most Remarkable young women to their new schools, where — who knows? — they just might meet their new best friends.