One week til moving on day. Prefer that to moving out...or moving in.

Don't know if it is just the bustle of our lives, the support and prayer of friends (thank you), all the thoughtful moments provoked by the new wave of the Atlantian breeding program, or just needing to get it over with...but my spirit is better about it.

I realized this weekend how fiercely protective I am of her and Chris. Maybe because I never felt really protected myself. A hard realization for sure. I reflected a lot on that and all my concerns. Few people know that I was beaten while I was at USC...I was walking through campus one night and someone tried to steal my purse. I fought for it because it had my military ID in it and I was more afraid to tell my parents I had lost it than of the man who beat the crap out of me.

After, I walked back to the dorm covered in dirt with my eye swelling shut. I remember people staring and me thinking, "if I act like nothing is wrong, it will be." I remember the dorm desk clerk asking if I was okay and saying, "Yes, why?" before the elevator door closed. I remember closing the door to my room and moving every piece of furniture in front of the door systematically.

I do not remember starting to cry loudly. Nor do I remember my neighbors knocking on the door or the RA trying to push back the door against the furniture. Eventually, my sister came and what snapped me out of it was her tearful slow inquiries as to whether I had been raped.

So you see, people saying to me that "She will only be twenty minutes away!" is not really helpful. Truthfully, I want to walk her to and from class or at minimum make Elliot do that.

But I also love her and want her to be able to demonstrate the phenomenal woman that she is.

I cannot protect her from life's every ill. So instead, I will satisfy myself with little indulgences....clorox wipes and purell to sanitize her bathroom, drawer liners and perfect closet accessories. I will make her bed and line her drawers and take her out to buy any last minute thing she needs. Then I will drop her off at her new home and come home to Us Three.

And we will all be fine. I will pray for that...and work on faith.