<p>it gets even better when our children graduate from college. Now I get, “Hey, when are you coming to visit? I haven’t seen you in X weeks.”</p>
<p>We love to visit. We still like meeting their friends, and taking a group out for a fun meal. </p>
<p>Although it still feels strange when the “children” discuss the choice of beer/wine/alcoholic beverage of choice when deciding what to order when we take them out–they have turned H and I on to some new options.</p>
<p>It does get better. Our other 3 are all out of college and working and actually like to hang out with us now! Our youngest had a bunch of friends over his last night home and we made a point of going in the other part of the house. I was folding laundry and one of the girls came in to talk to me. Before we knew it 8 or 9 kids had come in to visit. I told my son later that I guess we know who the cool one is! At this age there is a fine line between embarrassing them or being cool enough to hang out.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I would label this as a “faux pas”, but my D went to lunch on drop off day this week with a few girls from her dorm hall. One of the moms and I sat together at the same table. The other mom was from another country, not the US.</p>
<p>Other mom: “So when are you leaving to go home?”
Int: “I am flying out tomorrow. What about you?”
Other mom: (seems really surprised that I am leaving so soon) “I am staying for a few months.”
Int: “Oh, do you have friends or relatives you are staying with?”
Other mom: “No, I have sublet a place within walking distance of campus here so I can come see my daughter every day.” No driver’s license or car, either.
Int: (inside head: :eek: ): “Oh, that will be nice for your daughter.”</p>
<p>Don’t think I embarrassed D, at least she hasnt’ said so yet… Was kind of tempted because the roommate who moved in early into their huge dorm room (seriously, biggest I have ever seen) had lofted her bed right in front of the one and only window in the room. So her bed and desk kind of block the whole window (well, SHE will have a view). The room is really big, there are a ton of other ways she could have lofted/configured, leaving the window free to… be a window. But D said she was okay with it for now, so I kept my mouth shut.</p>
<p>^^^ oh my!</p>
<p>After reading a lot of this thread, I thought DH and I would be certain not to commit any faux pas on move-in day, but alas!–when DD was in the bookstore looking at t-shirts, DH asks: “Are you sure you’re a small? Why don’t you get a medium?”</p>
<p>Not the thing to ask an 18 year old girl who has the all too common insecurities about her body.</p>
<p>Is everybody on this thread watching “The Middle” tonight?</p>
<p>Yep! It was hilarious :). I’m embarrassed to say that I saw myself in Frankie a couple of times there…</p>
<p>I heard a good parental faux pas the other day. A friend took her son to his college near Boston. At the parent session on drop-off day, a mom stood up and said, “My son and I are here from Brazil. I’m worried that he’s going to become depressed over the winter since there won’t be any light. How do you keep the kids from getting depressed when there’s no daylight?” Apparently she thought Boston was above the arctic circle…</p>
<p>Saw ‘Middle’ last night. Hilarious. Does anyone think that we’ll go through the entire Freshman year without ever seeing Axel’s roommate’s face (like Tim Allen’s neighbor on ‘Home Improvement’ years ago)?</p>
<p>And somebody fill me in on the joke about Ice Cream down the hall, I didn’t understand or misheard what the student said. Finally, I can’t wait until Sue heads for college. She’s my favorite character. Someone should start a new thread about last night’s show.</p>
<p>My wife made a bunch of food for my freshman daughter, and I made arrangements with her to drop it off. We got back a message the next morning that said “you have greatly overestimated the size of my fridge.”</p>
<p>We barely missed being embarrassing.</p>
<p>Son and roommate, good friends from high school, signed up for a super early move in time. Smart for avoiding the heat, potentially more difficult for getting rid of parents! We got the boys moved in quickly, with moms making beds and unpacking clothes, setting up bathroom. Embarrassing if we had done it singly, but because we were doing it at the same time, not so painful. Also, few people around to witness since it was so early. </p>
<p>But we finished so efficiently, it was maybe 9:00 AM when we were done. Now what? My husband wanted to rent kayaks and hang out all day. Son was mortified by the idea. He wanted us to get out and let him start his new life. Thankfully the other dad, for whom this was the second child to go away, suggested we walk around campus a little, then grab some brunch. We got seats at a brunch hotspot near campus, sat at two tables, with kids at one and parents at the other, we picked up a few kids on the walk over, ordered lots of food, hung out and then left. The other dad set a good example for my husband.</p>
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<p>The kid came to Axel’s door and said something like “Hey, come on down the hall, there’s a huge keg of ----”, and then he saw the parents standing there and said “----ice cream!”</p>
<p>Honestly, the show’s writers must have read this thread :).</p>