<p>This one?</p>
<p>If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together… there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.
― A.A. Milne</p>
<p>Thanks for the congrats and the good wishes.</p>
<p>So, we leave tomorrow morning… or whenever… and not much is packed… the shopping list is not completed…H is still at work… BUT S2 keeps reminding us: There are stores in Rochester, he is unlikely to need ever supply the first night, we are going to be in town for at least 10 days, he only cares about his clothes and computer… </p>
<p>S1 came other last night and gave lots of practical advice on the first week or two – how to make friends, how to just get along being a freshman, how to stay on top of Academics, what is the real range of partying as compared to what students think is going on, what you think people are thinking but what they are really thinking (e.g. you go to a club to try it out and you think “they are judging me to think if I am worth wooing me to want to be part of the group, so if they don’t and are only polite, they must hate me.” really, “just another one of zillions of frosh trying us out, we’ll be minimally polite but otherwise not give a f&*k until we see him 4 or 5 times and we really don’t care if he tries us out and never comes back.”) </p>
<p>Instead of packing S2 is at older brother’s new post grad school apartment for the first time, and last time before he leaves for college, and meeting the new kitty brother. Seems appropriate.</p>
<p>I’ll say hello in spirit to all the Rochester parents and students while there!</p>
<p>Arrgh. The vertigo is back, although gratefully, not as bad as it was initially. I am planning to drive 900 miles starting tomorrow–this needs to go away. Ok, universe, I get that this is a time of re-balancing, the vertigo has made its point, I get the message, let’s move on!</p>
<p>I suspect most kids are trying to explore their new found freedom away from parents. They will tire of it in a few days and settle into a routine once school starts although some tend to get more spoilt and will probably blow the first semester.</p>
<p>@SnowflakeVT- “I have no interesting stories about drop off yet, but I did stalk my S on twitter as his college tweeted a photo of a pre-orientation canoe trip and I think I saw my S in the photo. Even if it wasn’t him, I’m claiming that kid as mine as he looked safe and happy.”</p>
<p>That is perfect, exactly what I would do, you made me giggle and I needed that. Had no idea sending my S out into the world to exactly where he should be would be so hard on his mother!</p>
<p>I saw DS in a video eating ice cream and pretending to sing the school fight song.
I am trying not to stalk the website looking for him, but he hasn’t posted much of FB.</p>
<p>MizzBee - he hasn’t been practicing the words all summer?! Or was he more interested in the ice cream?</p>
<p>Smiling at the parental stalking.</p>
<p>I just had to pop in and agree 100% on being able to stalk. My DD has called one time since she launched on Tuesday, and that was to ask if I could send the yoga mat she forgot. I was grateful she was at least thinking healthy choices! </p>
<p>She has texted several times and is having the time of her life. thank goodness for facebook, and thank goodness her roommate friended me. I have a strict policy (in place for years) that I will never be the one to initiate a friend request for her friends, but if they friend me I accept. The pictures being posted are hilarious and fun, and I am thankful I can get a peek once in a while. </p>
<p>Philly mom - glad your D has some where to go. My Dd has two friends in orlando, and I know the moms were originally worried.</p>
<p>Loving all of the launch stories. keep them coming!</p>
<p>momsings, I get vertigo too. Please google “Epley maneuver” and you will see a simple sort of exercise to do that will help you. Here’s a site I found with pretty good directions: [How</a> to Perform The Epley Maneuver | eHow.com](<a href=“http://www.ehow.com/how_5225197_perform-epley-maneuver.html]How”>http://www.ehow.com/how_5225197_perform-epley-maneuver.html)</p>
<p>I hope you see this! I know how awful vertigo can be.</p>
<p>The challenges never stop! Thankfully this one is merely material …</p>
<p>Our plan was to borrow our minivan back from our S1 (who would then use our matrix) to drive S2 and his very special desk chair and best buy’s worth of computer stuff and tiny bag of clothes, and our 2 weeks worth of travel stuff.</p>
<p>So at 5:29 S1 calls and sounding very upset tells us that 2 boys threw a rock through the back window of the minivan breaking the glass! (the sliding glass door behind the driver). The body shop (I think we have paid for the college of all their children) is open only till 6pm, I was still in my pj’s from working at home… we hustled and met there… I mean we are planning on leaving tomorrow, saturday morning! And who wants a minivan staying out in the outdoors overnight in thunderstorm season in an urban area missing a window? We got there me at 5:53, S1 at 5:59.</p>
<p>So now we have no vehicle to fit our stuff in, local Enterprise is closed for night, cost of renting large enough vehicle AND KEEPING IT FOR WHOLE 2 WEEK VACATION is prohibitively expensive … We have an endless shopping list saved up for Rochester…</p>
<p>So tentative plan is to rent an SUV (neither of us ever driven one), lend the old geo prism stick shift with over 200,000 miles to S1 (he’s only driven it around a parking lot), drive up to Rochester, after an overnight have DH drive back to DC, switch back to matrix and drive back for rest of trip. I mean, it is only about 350 miles each way!</p>
<p>Just another moving story… like the time I got the keys locked in the u-haul and u-haul had no master key and towed us to the u-haul central terminus and made us move our stuff to another u-haul truck, or the time…</p>
<p>We are beginning the drive to Barnard tomorrow morning. We’re staying about 2 hours from NYC tomorrow night to avoid the astronomical hotel fees in NYC (and the bed bugs that are so prevalent in NYC hotels too!). I don’t know how all of this is going to fit in the car, but it will have to fit somehow. I picked up a car top carrier, which is helping a lot. It would all fit with no problem if not for the “mini” fridge, which is actually quite large (3.2 cubic feet). </p>
<p>21 hours of driving in a car, with my ex-husband, in less than 48 hours time is going to be very interesting indeed.</p>
<p>This thread has been difficult to keep up with, so many posts!</p>
<p>Launch Sunday. Move in Monday. </p>
<p>Good luck to all.</p>
<p>silversas- I don’t know if you are in an urban area but your insurance company should be able to refer you to an autoglass company that will come right to your home or business. (safelite is one) . I’ve had the rear glass in my minivan replaced twice and the price is competitive. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Thinking of you Hawkeyes55, hope that your son is settling in and both of you are doing better
S and husband spent the day in MA doing all the picking up locally at BB&B, Office Depot run etc. Finally made it to Amherst late afternoon. Acoording to hubby, S is getting excited and seems very happy…which means Mom is feeling better
Hope move in, meeting roommate etc goes well…</p>
<p>Gosh, silversas, another hurdle to jump over or manuever around. Good luck and hang in there.</p>
<p>Get well to all those not feeling well. Hopefully your illness will mean you will be immune and healthy for the rest of the school year!</p>
<p>Well here is Part 1 of our launch: S is doing a pre-orientation, so we dropped him off for that and to (mostly) move him into his dorm. We will return Monday for the Convocation Ceremony.</p>
<p>Although the shopping was finished, S did not pack his clothes until the night before. I was not thrilled about this, but it worked out ok. We already had all of the other stuff (linens, supplies, etc) in piles in the living room.</p>
<p>I loved the smile on S’s face as we drove over the bridge into the city. A female student brought a bin over to us when we parked. Everything fit in one bin, and she was pushing it- singlehandedly- up the slight hill and onto the campus. I couldn’t keep myself quiet and told S to “Help her!”. Maybe I should have stayed silent, not sure, and not a big deal anyway. He did help her (somewhat) after that, lol.</p>
<p>We unpacked, all of us ate in the caf. Food was ok (have you ever heard of a quesadilla made from a tortilla stuffed with rice? ugh). Kids seemed great. I’m sad and miss S’s sweet sweet spirit in our house, but am really excited for him. He was definitely ready to leave home.</p>
<p>We haven’t heard from you in a while CPU! Hope you had a good summer and are excited about your Monday launch! </p>
<p>50 more miles until we hit Colorado Springs. At dinner tonight ds asked if we would be driving him in the future and dh and I both said at the same time “You’ll be flying!”. We’ve had some good bonding time once he stopped vomiting though!</p>
<p>Here’s to a smooth launch tomorrow.</p>
<p>? about double room etiquette so to speak… S will be able to start loading his stuff into room in the morning. Roommate will not be there until the afternoon.
Should S unload his stuff, bedding etc on whatever side of the room he choses, or wait to discuss with roommate? Looks like they have a nice spacious corner room</p>
<p>OK - both sons are all moved in and eager for classes to start. Both seem happy. I’m happy for them and mixed for me - I’ll miss them, but don’t mind having fewer balls in the air at home - fewer curfews to keep track of, homeworks to be aware of, rolling eyes to try to ignore. But still - they don’t need me anymore! Waaaaahhhhhhhh! </p>
<p>We took them both out for a fancy dinner, dropped them off, and then H and I went for an hour long walk along the beach barefoot, then out to split a desert. Not a bad start to an almost-empty nest. While we were gone, S3 got cast in a show at school, sothat’s something to look forward to!</p>
<p>Onward and upward. sniffle.</p>
<p>lillypod–D worked it out with the roommate in advance. She was all moved it and settled before the roomie showed up. I was glad they had talked it over, it would have felt odd to just choose…</p>