As a mother of one child my heart is breaking as we move to the next step in our lives.

It seems like it was just yesterday when I took him to preschool. He was not a child that cried when I left him. He cried when I came to get him because he did not want to leave his friends. I have been planning for Aug. 18, all summer.

On Saturday before he left for school, Slick gave me his order for lunch on Sunday. I shocked my family when Slick got into the truck and pulled away — I did not cry. I watched him until I could not see his truck then I looked up and said “Lord Slick is in your hands. You gave Slick to Buddy and me, now I have to have faith that we instilled in him to make the right decisions. I do not think there is anything else he needs because I tried to make sure he had it all just in case.”

Or so I thought! I called him after class on Wednesday, and he was sick. My first thought was to head to Wesson, but Buddy said there used to be a nurse on campus, but that was 25 years ago.

So, I call Co-Lin in Natchez and talked to Ms. Gwen McCalip. I explained what was going on but I could not remember what dorm he was in. Ms. McCalip reassured me he will be OK and told me to let her do some checking and she would call me back. Ms. McCalip made some calls someone went to Slick’s room check on him then reported back to Ms. McCalip who in turned call me.  I thanked her so much.

She took time for a worried mother and handled me with kid gloves. I will never forget what she told me.

“We take care of our students at Co-Lin.”  I want to say thank you Ms. McCalip and Co-Lin Natchez and Wesson.