Episode 230: College move ins and a tender mercy
Episode 230: College move ins and a tender mercy
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college move ins and a tender mercy - episode 230
college move ins and a tender mercy - episode 230
“God is aware of you!” This week I talk about how the college move-ins went with my two young adults. I share how things went with both my son and daughter and their different experiences. I also share about a tender experience I had with a dear friend, at a super cute market, which ended up being just what I didn’t realize I needed.
Show Notes: Hi Friends! I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. Below are all the references.
Key Topics
Key Topics
Returning home after weeks of travel and transition
Adjusting to having fewer kids at home
Falling back in love with the practicality of a minivan
Dropping off my son at Southern Virginia University
Why small campuses and dorm living can be a gift
Letting go of parental worry and trusting adult children to figure things out
Helping my daughter move into her first apartment
Decision fatigue, thrift stores, and Target run
Learning to read my kids’ cues and step back when needed
The emotional mix of pride, relief, and quiet sadness during college drop-offs
College Drop-Off Reflections
College Drop-Off Reflections
How different each child’s launch has been
Why I worried less — and prayed more — this time
Trusting that success doesn’t require constant parental involvement
Accepting distress calls and joyful calls as part of growth
Feeling peaceful rather than devastated when driving away
A Favorite Parenting Moment
A Favorite Parenting Moment
My daughter calling to ask how to use her small crockpot
Cooking chicken between classes and feeling capable
Remembering how meaningful those small “I can do this” moments are
A Tender Mercy
A Tender Mercy
While visiting Utah, I unexpectedly met someone who knew and loved my mother and shared two beautiful stories about her service and kindness. At a moment when I was quietly missing my mom — without saying it out loud — God placed me in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time, to hear stories I didn’t know I needed. It was a powerful reminder that God is aware of us, even in the middle of busy, exhausting seasons.
What This Experience Taught Me
What This Experience Taught Me
God is aware of us and our unspoken prayers
Tender mercies often come quietly and unexpectedly
Parenting young adults requires trust, patience, and faith
We are never doing this alone, even when it feels overwhelming
Writing down moments of grace helps us remember them later
Sources & Further Reading
Sources & Further Reading
Elder David A. Bednar, teachings on tender mercies and divine awareness
President Henry B. Eyring, “O Remember, Remember”
Luke 12:6–7 — God’s awareness of the details of our lives
1 Nephi 1:20 — Tender mercies of the Lord
Reflections on parenting young adults and faith-based letting go
Articles on decision fatigue and emotional labor in motherhood
Transcript
Transcript
I am Camille Johnson, and this is Finding the Floor.
Stories and reflections of midlife motherhood, family, and finding meaning in it all.
Join me as I share a little piece of my life and figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
Hey friends, welcome to Finding Before.
So I've been away for a couple of weeks.
I guess it was technically I was gone for like 3 weeks.
And when I got back, it's like the middle of September and it's like fall.
Things are cooling down in the evening.
Like I can start making maybe soups again or.
Not that you can't make soups, but even though the summer, it's not like what you're craving.
I hope everybody is getting used to the new school year.
I'm sort of still in transition because I feel like I'm just getting back.
Just got back like Sunday night and I don't know Millie's schedule really well yet.
And it's so weird just having one kid at home.
And then kind of a fun news today is that I am getting a new to me minivan, meaning that it's used.
It's not like brand new 2026 model or whatever, but I thought I was going away from this.
Like I thought for sure I would never want to come back to a minivan.
And now we haven't had a minivan since December.
And then there were just so many times where I was like, let's just throw it in.
No, we don't have our minivan.
We can't throw that big thing in.
We can load some things up, but there's just something so practically useful about a minivan.
Now, some of you may disagree.
They are not the sexiest of cars, to be honest, but
I don't know, they're comfortable to drive and their cup holder game is usually really good.
And so I can have my Stanley and then if I'm traveling, I can have like another cup as well.
not excited to have to get to that point where I got a minivan.
Like we got one right before we had our third because we would not fit everybody in our car.
And then I was just like, oh my gosh, I love this.
So if you're team minivan, then you know.
Yeah, I think it'll be a fun car.
So that, I get to pick that up today, which is exciting.
And I won't go into the whole backstory of why we ended up getting mini bags.
And we just decided, let's just trade it in.
So anyway, lots of fun stuff to look forward to.
So again, hope you guys are enjoying your fall.
This is like the best time of year in Cleveland.
If you ever want to visit, like if you've never been here and there's a time of year to come,
It's like why everybody stays.
Why do we live here in the Midwest?
I don't know if that's politically correct to say anymore, but the summers were like, it's like
really warm at the end of September and through October.
All right, you guys, here we go.
I just wanted to share a little bit about how my drop-offs went.
And then I told you I have this Tender Mercy.
Two times ago, I talked about kind of mental health ideas and how just we need to pray for our kids.
And that's what I feel like I've been doing all summer.
I have just had this like, I don't know what it is.
And especially with my daughter, I've just been praying and praying, hoping things would go okay.
So we'll start with drop-up started at the end of August.
And I've just felt like I've been dropping my babies all over the country.
Like I've got my married kids are in Utah.
Maybe in the short term, I don't know if he's going to go there the whole time.
And I was hoping he would be able to eventually get on the soccer team.
Right now, he's been able to work out with them a little bit, which has been good.
When we get there, my son is super cute.
And so I was driving with him and he was playing his music and he was excited.
And first of all, it was such a beautiful drive.
And I haven't been too worried about him because he's already served a mission.
figured that stuff out, but I knew he was a little bit unsure of what was actually happening.
I was just like, there wasn't that verification.
I didn't think to like, is it really moving day on this day?
So I was like, well, I mean, he's moving in.
So when we get there, whether it is or not, he is moving in.
So we get there and it is move-in day.
And that's all he really knew.
He's like, move-in day is the 28th.
So we pull up, we find a place to park.
We're like, well, where do you go?
I was like, do you know what your dorm is?
So luckily, the school is small, literally high school size.
I mean, the campus is bigger than a high school, but it's small.
And there was just one big tent that said, check in.
So we do that and Simeon tells him his name and then
We got a tiny little bit of a tour.
He's like, yeah, classes are mostly in these two buildings.
It's just going to be the perfect size for him.
And the fact that he wasn't in an apartment, like he's just in a dorm room.
And so that made it really easy to just move him in.
So I just remember being on a meal plan when I was a freshman.
And so all you have to do is move in your stuff to the dorm.
You don't have to have extra dishes or any of that.
So we realized there's a few things we need to go buy.
And so we run to the Walmart there and buy it, come back.
And I just want to put it away where I want it.
And I was like, no, I can just, you can tell me where to put stuff.
I think we went and purchased him a sweatshirt at the bookstore.
And then we said our goodbyes.
And it was all just like over.
I think we were there for maybe 3 hours at the most.
And then we started driving home.
So we are so, I don't mean to brag, but we've gotten pretty good at driving long distances.
Like we were four hours in and we're just like, we can totally get home.
Like, so we did that all in one day.
Like we literally got home at midnight and we left that morning at like 5.30 A.m.
Are they going to actually go to class?
Are they going to do your homework?
I mean, obviously that's, you figure that out and that's part of being a young adult.
But as a mom, you're just like,
So I've kind of stopped worrying too much about that.
I'm just like, let's not worry.
So then fast forward a couple weeks, have a couple weddings to go to.
We go to Utah because of a couple weddings for a niece and nephew, which was really fun.
Get to see family and some friends.
And then Sophie and I just do a ton of shopping.
And we just packed basically most of her clothes and a few items that she wanted to bring from home.
And I just felt like my brain was just like, okay, what do you need for her apartment?
And we had this fun trip to the thrift store there called the Desert Industries.
getting plates and cups and everything is just so cheap.
Don't you need a salad spinner?
And I'm trying to push her on a salad spinner.
She's like, mom, I don't need a salad spinner.
I'm like, I know, but it's two bucks.
Like, you should just have one.
Everyone needs a salad spinner.
I mean, I'm a big proponent of the salad spinner.
I think it's a very useful tool.
And I should have just bought it because my dad doesn't even have a salad spinner.
And I'm always like, oh, I wish he had a salad spinner.
Anyway, that was just really fun to get all the things and the mugs.
And then she was kind of coordinating with another roommate.
And they were both picking the same colors, like a blue and white scheme.
And then we're going to Target and just getting a ton of things there.
Sheets and, a blanket and comforter and stuff for the bathroom and toiletry stuff.
And we did it sort of in like batches because you can really only handle so much shopping.
And I could totally watch like when my daughter was like done.
Like, she just like the decision fatigue.
It was just like, mom, I can't make any more decisions.
back another day and get the rest.
it was just because there's so much to decide.
All these things that you need to like fill an apartment.
And of course she had roommates and they were coordinating.
We were getting everything, but
There's stuff that she personally needs.
And I was just like, she doesn't, she's not going to have a car.
And I just wanted to make sure she was all set up before I left.
So anyway, we drive up to Rexburg.
It's about 3 1/2 hours north of Salt Lake.
And she totally let me like help her move in.
And so we got everything set up and I had planned on staying the night there.
We were just like, we had been together a lot, just the two of us.
How about you take a break in your cute new apartment?
And I think it's very helpful as I've learned to like, notice her cues like, okay,
She can't even make one more decision about life right now.
So yeah, it is good to have that all taken care of.
And as I was driving back, I just felt good.
Like I felt content and happy.
I felt like she was going to be okay.
I felt, I just wasn't sure how I would feel as I was like driving home and leaving her.
And I was just happy that I wasn't like bawling.
So I think that's just the pattern of life, right?
You're going to drop them off and they're going to experience things.
I think a favorite call I had was yesterday.
put just like some chicken in here for dinner.
And while you're at class, then it's ready when you come home.
And so she's like, hey, mom, I have time before my next class.
I thought I would make chicken in my little crock pot.
And she calls me just to make sure she knows how to do it.
And she said it turned out great.
And she put it in with her ramen.
And I've already sent her a package of a few things that she forgot.
I'm probably going to send packages frequently.
That was like my favorite thing, getting packages.
So yeah, kids are off and it's been good.
I think one of my favorite parts of the trip was they had this tour at BYU-Idaho
So I did that with her the following day too, and that was really fun.
The campus is really wide, so she'll be doing a lot of walking in her apartments.
It's not like right on campus, so she'll just have to walk to campus.
Like she can pretty much walk everywhere, but she'll be doing a lot of walking.
I just felt like all the prayers that I had this summer kind of were like answered.
I just felt like the Lord was aware of them.
He's going to take care of my kids while they're not in my care.
And so I had this awesome experience while in Salt Lake.
It was actually like right after I dropped off my husband and my youngest at the airport.
She had to get back and go to school.
And I really wanted to visit a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a couple years.
And the only way we could like manage our schedules together was
That was sort of like where she worked was kind of in between where she lived and where my dad is.
And so she just told me her hours and hey, if you can show up.
And so we go in to this place called the Fox Market.
And if anyone lives in Utah and hasn't been to this cute market, you just need to go.
You don't necessarily need to buy anything, but it's just such a cute place.
I was like, oh my gosh, this is the cutest little store I've ever been in.
Anyway, so my friend helps to like manage it a little bit.
And so we were chatting, catching up.
She was showing me around the shop.
They even have furniture and clothes.
So my daughter was able to look for some clothes and even found a dress to wear.
And so then she introduces me to the buyer who happens to know my parents.
Like, you're just, you're making it, you're fine.
But there's just times where you're like, I just miss my mom.
Anyway, I hadn't really said anything to anyone.
I kind of just, you know, it's just kind of there.
And she knows and loves my mom.
And, sorry, and proceeds to tell me these two sweet stories about my mom.
as they were serving this inner city mission.
So maybe I should explain that better if that's confusing.
So the woman who is the buyer, her name is Dolly, and she is a sister of my parents,
So I knew like her sister really well.
She's like, I didn't even, and I didn't even know that.
So that was just a fun thing to learn about my parents.
And then she tells another story about how she is going through the temple with her daughter.
So she was kind of sad that she didn't have her mom with her.
And so she was trying to think about, oh, who's going to be our escort?
So when you go into the temple, you have like
what they call temple workers who kind of guide you around and are your escort.
And as they go into the temple, my mom has been assigned as their escort.
And she just thought that was the loveliest thing.
I just was like, wow, I didn't really ask for that or expect that.
I'm just going to visit a friend, trying to catch up.
And I mean, had I come at a different time, would she have been there?
So we ended up going kind of in the afternoon.
So I just want all of you to remember that God is aware of us.
but are a big concern on your heart.
And I hope that maybe some of you, if you have an experience like that,
And anyway, it just, that experience stuck with me.
Okay, that's it for me today and I get to go.
So I need to finish up and I'm excited about that and I will talk to you guys next week.
I am excited about this plan I have for the next couple weeks and so stay tuned.
All right, talk to you guys later.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Special thanks to Seth Johnson for creating and performing the theme music.
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