Quick reflections about dropping my daughter off to college for the first time.

[exboyfil]

6. My oldest daughter goes off to college next week

I am very excited for her and a little scared for her safety. We were talking today on our walk how she has never been away from us for very long (a week stretch when her mom and I were in Hawaii).

I think she will do fine. I do worry about her though given all you hear about women being sexually assaulted on campus (one in four). We have talked at length about that. She did her mandatory alcohol training today. She says she will not drink before she is 21 (she will be done with her B.S. before then), and I told her to always be in control of her drink to the point of opening it herself and never leaving it (that includes non-alcoholic drinks). I worry about the hours she will have to spend with men on her project teams and in the computer labs (she will be an engineer). I specifically picked out the dorm closest to her Mechanical Engineering building to minimize potential danger crossing the campus.

She has never dated. I frankly think the boys in her high school have been crazy not to ask her out. She is beautiful and intelligent. I am a protective father but not a monster about it. She worked this summer as an engineering intern at my employer and did not meet anyone (I was a little surprised by that). I made a strong effort to not see her at all during the day except for a few Fridays out of work for lunch.