BRENTWOOD, TN — Sources close to the Garner family confirmed Monday that approximately four hours after dropping their eldest son off at Vanderbilt University, Mitchell Garner, 51, had already assembled a weight bench in the young man’s former bedroom, which still contained two of the young man’s posters and his retainer.

Garner, who teared up during the drive home and described himself as “devastated, absolutely devastated” at a Sunday lunch stoplight, was observed by neighbors unloading a resistance band set and two 25-pound dumbbells from his truck bed by 4:15 p.m. His wife, Denise, 49, confirmed she was still crying in the car when she heard the drill start.

“He hugged Tyler for a long time. Real long. Then he said ‘we’re gonna miss you, bud’ and I thought, okay, this is a tender moment. Then on the highway he asked if I thought the closet rod could hold a pull-up bar.”

“I’ve wanted a home gym since 2009,” Garner told reporters, pausing to wipe his eye before continuing. “Tyler knows I love him. This is just good stewardship of the square footage.”

Tyler Garner, 18, reached by phone from his dorm, said he had suspected this would happen and had taken his favorite lamp with him as a precaution. A framed Little League photo of Tyler was found leaning against the hallway wall, facedown, making room for a motivational poster Garner described as “real inspiring.”

At press time, Garner had not yet used the weight bench but had sat on it for twenty minutes looking at old photos on his phone.