<p>DB, I checked out the website and the program sounds wonderful! I’ll have to look into this for next year. It’s late in the summer and D’s schedule is full. Thanks</p>
<p>scualum, thanks for sharing that story, I will be even more proactive if there is a next time. I felt at least “lifeguarding” the child was something, but what about the next time? People here get into vacation mode easily, drinking beer on the beach, reading, napping and chatting. I guess everyone assumes someone else is watching the kids.</p>
<p>I am always staggered by the people who don’t watch their little kids. Makes me absolutely crazy.</p>
<p>My D is going to have a chocolate brown and cream afghan at college. My sister made it for her, which is really nice because she lost her husband, who was D’s Godfather, before Christmas and she wanted D to have something in remembrance since he wouldn’t be there to see D off as he would have done.</p>
<p>Very sad, scualum. You never think of something like that happening when you’re around!</p>
<p>DS is upstairs playing guitar. He’s taken to coming up with his own pieces - they’re very beautiful! He seems to be ignoring running for now. He said his shins still hurt a little, but I get the feeling he’s lost interest. It makes me a little blue, but it’s his decision!</p>
<p>zoosermom-how nice that your sister made the afghan with such special meaning for your D.</p>
<p>ML-if his shins hurt, they’re still telling him something as you well know. He may pick it up again. As you may remember, my DS#2 was also a X-country runner, albeit not as accomplished as yours, but the injuries just took their toll and he gave it up to concentrate on another sport.</p>
<p>trip to denodontist this morning.
$500 for a new crown for D, plus $580 if they get in there and need to redo rootcanal.</p>
<p>yikes.
certainly don’t want her having any tooth issues out-of-state, but jeeze-o-pete, that’s a lot of money at the end of summer and in the midst of college-prep.</p>
<p>gulp.</p>
<p>Many of you may know this, or even have seen this article, but a few weeks ago this was an eye-opener for me: [Drowning</a> Doesn’t Look Like Drowning](<a href=“http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/]Drowning”>Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning – Mario Vittone)</p>
<p>– about how parents often don’t realize their kids are drowning because there is no apparent struggle.</p>
<p>Flinty, thanks so much for that link. I will forward to my D who is a lifeguard, she probably already knows it, but I found it very informative.</p>
<p>When my kids were little we always sat near the lifeguard on the beach. They had a rule even as they got older that they had to explicitly inform an adult when they were going in the water, and had to stay within sight, and that adult was responsible unless explicitly handing off control to another adult. I did get annoyed at times when the responsible adult was not taking their job as seriously as they should, which is why I usually watched all the time anyway, and why we had the lifeguard backup. And the lifeguards we did see as backups, as they have the whole beach to watch, and we had our two kids. Less often but at pools also, we had a person who was a primary watcher, they should not have been whooping it up in the conversations going on or going for food etc. (not saying that was the case in any of the stories here, just our practice)</p>
<p>Yes this is a downer but is so important. There were two little twin girls drown in the Boston area just recently, it happens all too often.</p>
<p> 
Nothing a good ten hours of sleep won’t cure… Thanks for all the sweet get well wishes. I feel much better.</p>
<p>momof3sons - I am laughing as I read - where do our mothers even find this yarn? (In my mom’s case it is in her storage room, as she found a good sale in 1984…)</p>
<p>mdemvizi - Good luck with the scheduling. Suggestion: e-mail your advisor now and maybe you can get it all worked out before you arrive on campus.</p>
<p>BUandBC82 - I must admit, I did not know what a Tar Heel was, but I always find the mascot history information quite interesting. One of by favorite mascots is the BC Eagle. It is going to take me some time to adjust to Mr. C. at Vanderbilt. (He might frighten young children.) Thankfully, they use the Star logo for most things. </p>
<p>psychmom - I will join you for those virtual margaritas. Not only will I be celebrating the young man at college, but I will be mourning the end of my summer vacation - back to work (officially) for me on August 30th.</p>
<p>kindredspirit - Love the reference to your “baby boy” and I am happy that his celebration was wonderful. :)</p>
<p>aliceinw and Youdon’tsay - That would have been a twist if your sons had been placed together.</p>
<p>lilmom - Wishing for the best for you and your dad. {{HUGS}}</p>
<p>cecil - I am thankful that your son was there for that dear child. I just don’t understand how parents can be so casual around water.</p>
<p>Welcome back, DougBetsy. It sounds like you had a great time! 
Glad Batman is well and enjoyed the o-c-e-a-n.</p>
<p>scualum - How tragic! I can’t imagine how horrible that was for all involved.</p>
<p>Tears, zoosermom. {{HUGS}} What a lovely thing for your sister to do.</p>
<p>Ouch, 1sttimemom! Fingers crossed for the crown only! </p>
<p>Flinty - Thanks for that link. That is really good information.</p>
<p>jackief - Waving! :)</p>
<p>Have a great day, everyone!</p>
<p>:cool: 
</p>
<p>BT: So glad you are feeling better!! Sleep is good! :)</p>
<p>And I Ditto all of the above! Waving in admiration and thanks for the sunshine and smiles. ;)</p>
<p>Good Morning Everyone! Busy day here in the dental office…our assistant called in sick so I am pulling double duty…had to take a minute and check in :)</p>
<p>ML, did your S get his dorm assignment? I hope he is happy with it… D has two friends in Simkins…(Creekside) and 2 in Brakenridge. The two in Simkins are not happy. I wish they would have gotten on CC and researched the dorms before they put in thier preferences…they both said they would have rather lived in Jester…oh well.</p>
<p>Just wanted to check in and say hi. :)</p>
<p>BT - glad to hear you’re feeling better.</p>
<p>1sttimemom, that really stinks.</p>
<p>BT, sleep is so restorative, isn’t it? Glad you’re feeling better now.</p>
<p>scualum, I’m so sorry, what a terrible thing to happen and to witness. I also do not hesistate to get involved with children if I percieve the situation as potentially dangerous. Yes, I’ve gotten dirty looks but I’ve also been thanked. </p>
<p>Here’s a story on the topic but with a funny ending. I fell asleep on an airplane believing that my son was strapped safely in his carseat in the seat next to me. I woke up to a flight attendent saying, “Excuse me. EXCUSE me…I believe this is your baby” while she held my son under the arms, facing me and thrust him towards me. He was giggling! </p>
<p>Not only did I forget to strap him in, he quietly shimmied his way down and crawled under the seats to get several rows in front of me! I was mortified! But now I can laugh. Thank goodness for the stories that end well.</p>
<p>Oh, pmk, that’s too funny! “I believe this is your baby!” You made me LOL.</p>
<p>momof3sons, thanks for the reminder about injuries. I know you’re right - it’s just weird for him to stop doing something he’s loved for so many years.</p>
<p>SWTCAT, DS didn’t get into the Whitis FIG program, but he got Jester, so he’s OK with it. He’s on the 10th floor! He will have to allow a few extra minutes in the morning to get an elevator. Your D is in a private girls’ dorm, isn’t she? Probably similar to the one I lived in - I loved it! For that reason, I wish DS was a girl!</p>
<p>I wasn’t going to bring this up, but it fits in with the drowning warnings. Last week, a 40-year-old father in our community was found unresponsive in his above-ground pool. He passed away. The autopsy showed he had a fractured vertebra. His daughter was in my son’s science class, and I judged her science fair project (she won a prize at the state fair). He also has a son in junior high. So it’s not a good idea to swim by yourself even if you’re an adult in a tiny pool!!</p>
<p>Flinty, thanks for that link. I sent it to my D who is a lifeguard. I said, “I’m sure they taught you this, but…” and read the part about how splashing and yelling aren’t part of drowning. She said, “I know, that’s not drowning, it’s a distressed swimmer.” So I guess she did learn this in her training, but I sent it to her as a reminder anyway.</p>
<p>I just got back from dorm shopping with my son. Went to Kohls and Target and we did an expensive but great job. Shopping with a boy is a no nonsense power shop. I’m sure there are still a few things he will need, but we definitely got the bulk of it out of the way. He is rooming with friends from school. They’re in a two room suite with a common bathroom. One of the moms sent an email to the rest of us saying we (the moms) needed to meet over wine to discuss the needs of the common areas. We all agreed it was a great idea and have set a date.</p>
<p>I was at the beach club pool this afternoon and went to the bar to order an iced tea (non alcoholic, non Long Island I swear!). I started chatting with one of the waitresses, not to bore you with the details of the story, but she is a W&M senior. She was so excited to hear I have a son going there and is going to e-mail him and offer to answer any questions. She even has a brother who had been on the crew team there! My family teases me for talking to everyone, but sometimes very nice things happen.</p>
<p>p.s. Now I am having some “grape juice” decidedly alcoholic!</p>
<p>Hi, all.</p>
<p>Been on and off all day but didn’t really have anything to report. Moved ds’s newly cleaned-out desk to the curb hoping someone will pick it up. That corner will be where we start stacking the stuff we’ll take to college. Tomorrow, dh and I will be working on his closet. He’s kept every scrap of schoolwork he’s ever done, I think. We’re going to reorganize his closet for him so that he has room to hang up all the stuff he claims there’s no room for. (Dh is a packrat and keeps some of his ancient clothes in there, so ds is partly correct)</p>
<p>Many of these drowning stories are very sad - but definitely also a good reminder to be safe in the water this summer! </p>
<p>acm - that is so cool! I’m really jealous; I keep wanting to have one of those moments where I run into some CMU alum/student in San Francisco and have a nice conversation. Sometimes I even wear my CMU sweatshirt as bait 
</p>
<p>I took a really nice ballet class this morning, but I am already feeling sore right now…tomorrow morning should be really fun, then ;)</p>