<p>Last contact with DS was Saturday at 4:30 pm when the parent’s were separated from the kids and the kids went to meet with their orientation groups for the first time. The goodbye was on a huge field, around which orientation leaders stood holding up numbered signs. Got my hug and kiss and then DH and I were off to the parking garage (instead of the President’s address to the parents) so we could get to the airport and get home before TS Isaac. We actually passed by DS’s group (as we shuffled with the crowd of parents and family out of the field’s gates) and DH said that he saw that DS was already standing there. Just knowing he was where he was supposed to be, helped me somehow. </p>
<p>Now it is Monday AM and we have not heard anything at all. I know, he is a guy and no news is good news but sheesh. I am in an empty nest here…wish he would text me a “thumbs up”. DH says I should not text or call him yet. It is too soon and I need to give him his space. Today they meet with their advisors and tomorrow is class registration. They start class on Wednesday. </p>
<p>My other older two kids had orientations and class registrations weeks before the actual start of classes, giving them time to tweak their schedules online. The fact the DS picks his classes, (without our guidance)and starts them the very next day has me uneasy. </p>
<p>I really hope he has a good advisor because he really, more than most, needs academic advising. His major is currently undeclared. He has no clue what he wants to take and when to take it.</p>
<p>DS is starting his second week of classes! He has had to call a few times-mostly around book buying: one of the books had to be purchased on line, so he had to call and get our credit card number. The site made him register, and asked for a birthdate-He didn’t think it through, and when it came time to complete the transaction, he received a message letting him know that a parent or guardian would now have to call to approve the transaction since he is not 18! H spent almost an hour on the phone wading through automated messages before he could approve the purchase of the book!</p>
<p>DD just told me about two “move-in” moments that I didn’t know about. The morning of the move-in (we stayed overnight with relatives) DS came in to his little sisters room, sat on the bed and said, “Well, are you ready for this?” When she said she wasn’t sure, he told her, “I don’t know either, and I’m really going to miss you!” She said he hugged her so hard she could hardly breathe-and he cried on her shoulder! (Probably a good thing I didn’t hear this story earlier!)</p>
<p>The other was during the unpacking of clothes. The closet/drawer space is quite small, and DS was really having to jam things in, to which he said, somewhat exasperated, “Now I’m going to have to iron everything!!!” (Just to put this in context - I think he’s only ironed one dress shirt in his whole life. Which puts him just two or three behind me!)</p>
<p>Everything else seems good; he’s enjoying his classes, his dorm seems to be very active and the upperclassmen have been very inclusive, he’s gotten a job (the head of music dept asked him to teach piano to elem. students in a program they run in town), he’s already been to a concert and he and his roommate are hitting it off. So…now I can turn my attention to my D-and we start back to homeschooling in earnest this week.</p>
<p>It’s a dilemma to know how much to call. I’d like a daily call, but that’s not going to happen. The big thing I’m waiting for is to hear about a successful registration.</p>
<p>He also has 3 of 4 classes picked and there is just some question on that 4th class - if it is supposed to be an engineering class or if it can be an elective. He’s supposed to meet with the advisor between 9 - 12 and I just hope he isn’t waiting until noon. The next nail biter for me is if he actually knows how to find the classes and times and figure that out, then get on that annoying blackboard to actually register. I gotta let it go. I can’t be constantly hovering and worrying when based on a spied on facebook post, he seems perfectly happy and joking with his friends from home on the freshmen 15 and who will get the fattest by Thanksgiving. </p>
<p>I also know that lots and lots of our kids are just living through this initial transition and before we know it they’ll all be comfortable and fine and I imagine all of us will eventually come to some sort of level of acceptance. </p>
<p>Difference between boys and girls - my d texted me on the bus for her first day to chat and say she was fine. She’s somewhat aware that I worry about them and that they’re okay and she checks in and fills me in on everything. S keeps me on a need to know basis.</p>
<p>Care package is packed and ready for post office: locally-made granola bars, yogurt-covered almonds, leftover Hershey bars from s’mores she and her friends didn’t make this summer, tea, biscotti, one set of silverware (requested), cloth snack bag thingie ('cause she’s in the eco-dorm and can use it to bring her almonds to class).</p>
<p>Her classes start TODAY! So excited.</p>
<p>And breathing deep breaths for those of you with kids at schools impacted by the hurricane.</p>
<p>Got to visit S at his dorm last night 6 days after his early move-in. Delivered a futon/couch from Wal-Mart which was the talk of the floor by night’s end. Also brought the stuff that he forgot, a present from one of our friends, and his speakers. Roommate had moved the rest of his stuff on the night before official move-in (he’s local) and room looked pretty full, but still neat, with no clothes on the floor (yet).<br>
S was hanging out with one of his best buds from HS who lives in a dorm on the opposite corner of the campus, about 1 mile away. Got another hug before we headed out. When we got home, we opened a letter indicating he got another scholarship totaling $6,000 over 4 years! A total surprise! He had applied for it last winter.
We have not had the time to have the separation sink in. We are selling a boat that we have had for the last 27 years, which is sort of like sending off another child, but more annoying. Between showings, fixing it up, and answering the new buyer’s emails and phone calls (buyer is very excited) we don’t have much time to dwell on anything but the urgent. Once the boat is gone, and I have time to do things like clean out S’s car, and clean up his room, I think S’s absence will feel real.</p>
<p>Today is D’s first day of classes! Hope to hear from her later today. My phone might be busted so I won’t be getting any texts, not that I would anyway.</p>
<p>We sent a package, but it included forgotten items and a birthday card for her birthday on Wed. We left her a gift cert to a nice restaurant in town when we dropped her off, but included a surprise Panera gift card as one opens near campus this week. No cookies.</p>
<p>D had laundry questions yesterday but directed them at H who is the laundry guy in our house. She has been doing her laundry for a while, this was if a particular shirt is colorfast. Since laundry is included in the dorm cost, I say might as well wash it separately.</p>
<p>Good luck to all those in gulf coast areas. I remember the Katrina date because it is D’s birthday. It is also Judgement Day (re Terminator 2)</p>
<p>" S keeps me on a need to know basis"…LOL eyemom… this is SO true. I am already used to this as i have 5 of them. My friends with girls are sucked into the drama vortex on a daily basis… I really prefer the guys way I think… although it is frustrating sometimes.</p>
<p>Grandma baked cookies to take on the way. I haven’t baked any yet. We just got back last night from launching DD, which went very smoothly. It sure is strange to come home to the empty house.</p>
<p>PinotNoir-- Great idea… Rerunagain, too funny (re leaving babies out of “Life”)</p>
<p>D2 has been launched now one week, but D1 is still at home as her school starts later. She has been complaining about how much we talk about D2, then recalls her sister having commented to her when she started college that, “All mom and dad do is talk about you. I wonder what she is doing today, look the weather is blah, blah there today,” etc. It makes us sound pathetic. Luckily (irony), I have a bunch of stuff going on at work to keep me very, very occupied. </p>
<p>bingo-- good roommate, got classes, making friends (was that on there??)</p>
<p>My S is of the no communication camp. We moved him into his dorm last Tuesday, saw him Tuesday night, DH saw him from afar on Wednesday when I was too sick to attend orientation. The only way I know he is “alive” is that he is adding friends to his FB account!
I got home from the California drive last night, and the traffic was worse in Olympia, WA than in anyplace else in my travels. Good to be home. Good to see DH and younger S15. It felt wonderful to be so welcomed by one of our cats, who missed me horribly.
Today is S first day of college classes. I hope he enjoys!</p>
<p>Mihcal, D’s 18th birthday is tomorrow so I mailed cookies to her on Saturday. She’ll be receiving them a day early but I suppose it better than a day late!</p>
<p>My plan is to send little news-y innocuous texts, hopefully not too many (one or two a day), and refrain from nagging or prying. Just little tidbits about what’s going on here, to let her know we’re thinking of her. E.g., I texted a photo of D2 & friend baking cookies, and D1 responded “YUM!” If I haven’t sent anything else that day, I’ll text “Goodnight, sleep tight!” when I go to bed.</p>
<p>IMO texts are less of an interruption, and therefore less “demanding” than a phone call. I’m trying to keep the text communication channel nice and light, hoping that will encourage more frequent responses. If I have questions or need actual information (e.g.,request that she send me her class schedule, or asking if she’s sorted out with her roommate yet about getting a fridge) then I’ll send it in email. I will try to keep those sorts of queries to a minimum. </p>
<p>Of course I want to know every little detail of her life. But I’m not going to. And I know from experience that pressing a teenager is likely to just make her clam up.</p>
<p>Hola, wackaloons! I will scroll back here, but I just wanted to pop in to wish continued happy launches to you. My girl is hunkering down at Tulane in preparation for Isaac–after a great convocation weekend. We had perfect blue skies and sunshine, which they still have today. She only has one class today, the rest were cancelled through Wednesday. She’s ready to get into her studies, but so far has had fun and made friends at band camp.</p>
<p>I’ve been very happy with the communication we’re receiving about plans for sheltering in place during the storm, and the kids are all kind of excited about it. My girl’s roomie is the daughter of the woman in charge of food services at Tulane, and if she has no worries about her child being there in the dorms, I don’t either. They lived through Katrina.</p>
<p>ReneeD7- My thoughts are with you and your D. We were in New Orleans during the start of Katrina. We had just moved our oldest into her dorm at Tulane. It was chaotic and scary and like nothing we had ever experienced. This was my hard to adjust child and her start of her college life did not go as planned. I think the Tulane adminstration has learned a lot since Katrina.
Communication- My S rarely in his 4 yrs called. He didn’t read email but after the first year we discovered that he would respond to text messages. It also was a waste of time and money to send him packages or mail. He never went to his mail box and when he had an email that he had a package waiting he took so long to pick it up the items were stale. I would sometimes text- Are you alive? D1 is the opposite- I heard from her almost everyday, sometimes multiple times a day. I sent her plenty of care packages and she appreciated them. She is working abroad and I still hear from her via Skype several times a week and I am headed to the post office to send her a care package. Kid3 has already let me know that she is not going to be calling me daily like her sister did. I think she is going to be somewhere in the middle of her siblings in terms of communication.
The dorm pile is getting larger as is my American Express bill.
I am enjoying hearing all the stories.</p>
<p>I think they have learned a lot across the city and at Tulane, both mom60. And Pres Scott Cowen has been very active in that planning process. We had the chance to chat with him this weekend and I was very impressed.</p>
<p>I’ve been texting with my girl today. She’s going to skype with a local reporter here in Cleveland about the storm, so she’ll be on the news tonight!</p>
<p>Sent D a text asking her what NYC excursion she went on today and how her cold was and she replied. They went to the museum of natural history and she is feeling better. I asked her if she was having fun today and she said “More” and asked about the drive home. I’m feeling a little better about it all.</p>
