<p>Don't make jokes, BlueBayou, my D had so much screw-up her first and second term, at the snowy institution your S is headed for, that I thought she had a great big sign on her back - I'm a little lost, screw me over. But you know, by spring, she could work the system with the best of them!</p>
<p>Good luck to the class of 10!!</p>
<p>By the by, Curmudge, if my clueless baby boy could get a chance to join your daughter in 3, his Dad and I would be 2 of the happiest people in LA. No bigscholarships for that one, but boy, wouldn't that be a good school for him!</p>
<p>I am eager to read the next chapter when Curmie meets her roommate and that family. They may form first impressions based on Curm's interesting presenting style and the truck with Pam Anderson naked on it. Won't they be surprised to learn how special the Curm family is??</p>
<p>Oh my, will any of you still be around in September or will you all have grown used to having your S or D away and no longer browse CC? My son doesn't check in at school until Sept 17. One by one his friends are packing up and moving away. And I'm sitting with his friends moms wishing we could all be going through this at the same time rather than having it spread out over a month(and they are all wishing their kid wasn't leaving until Sept)..with my son, the last in his group of friends to head off.</p>
<p>Ok - what is in the living room pile (i.e., what I acquired and put there) - fans, bookshelf, TV (happy 18th), storage devices (ok, don't ask how many, at least in front of S), linens/pillows (we may be sitting on these!), and S's beloved black leather rocker/recliner/swiveler/clothesrack/cradler of teenage males (he's sure it will fit perfectly into his 10x11 single, and if not, maybe the bathroom), desk stuff (oh yeah, there'll be some classes), various and sundry organizers (I can naively hope, can't I?).</p>
<p>What is not in the pile - clocks ("what's a cell phone for, mom?"), a "mail" kit of envelopes/stamps, etc ("get serious mom, NO ONE uses THOSE anymore"); keys to the vintage 1990 Volvo station wagon (it's his brother's turn, even if it is older than he is), and The Surfboard, which will just have to stay in his room, no matter how much he will miss it, bc the Shenandoah is not known for its pipelines. And maybe that means he'll eventually come home, at least for summer . . . . </p>
<p>For all of your kids who are leaving their surfboards and heading inland to college, I saw surfboard shaped area rugs with hawaiian designs at Linens and Things.</p>
<p>Motherdear - no identifiable dorm "design" allowed, including patterned rugs. The General has spoken. Navy blue, khaki, and off-white, and that's stretching it to add a third color. </p>
<p>Apparently, color is reserved for his pink blazer and pastel madras patchwork shorts. This is the South after all, where real men wear color, but refuse to live in it.</p>
<p>Plaid, plaid and more plaid. Sounds good to me, but then again I went to a college which actually has an official tartan and our school colors are called "plaid".</p>
<p>Daughters are much more fun:
brights, dots, stripes, plaids, pastels.....</p>
<p>Procrastination is the motto of this family. S got his MacBook with all sorts of neat stuff. That's about it. I also have a list of things to buy, and it keeps getting longer. OTOH , UW is on the quarter sistem, so classes start September 27, move-in day-Sept 22. We have all the time in the world, right? I am planning a raid on BBaB next week. On the "we accomplished something" side- every possible shot has been obtained, dentist appointment is made, and ,most importantly, the schedule is all set. We took the earliest registration session possible, so S had lots of choices. He loves his classes already. :-)</p>
<p>Mudgette arrives in Memphis in a monstor truck! Cool. My father the AF Col saw a Mess Hall being demolished so on the way to leaving me at Furman we had to acquire a wobbly trailer and we pulled into Furman with a West Virginia truck, Illinois drivers licenses, Delaware residency and a huge stainless steel sink in tow. My roommate looked a bit concerned with our eccentricities and lack of sense of place.</p>
<p>Left my S at Duke last year and after a lot of fun orientation icebreakers etc, meeting some great kids and thier parents, and eating out, I became mysteriously too dizzy/achy to attend the closing convocation ceremony in the Cathedral and thus missed the final goodbye. At least I didn't make a scene. I spent the first child-less afternoon forelonely watching the Ted Turner movie channel in a darkened room just kinda numb and in a bit of shock that our child was in his brave new world and it was Done. </p>
<p>I was still less of a spectacle than my friend who left her son at Tech, and held her composure till she decided to stop at the side of the highway to join up with a woman she had never met who had just found her dog after his death from a car hitting him.</p>
<p>She and that poor lady did some mighty weeping and wailing together by the side of the highway.. I don't know if the lady with the dog knew why my friend was crying so much but they helped each other for a few minutes and parted.</p>
<p>When the moment comes I'll kind of feel like I lost my dog, too Faline. I'm doing my damnedest not to think about it (but I can't seem to sleep and 5:30 is coming way soon).</p>
<p>Curmudgeon - it is one of the hardest and saddest things I have ever done - driving to VA for 13 hours with my first born (who never even went to overnight camp!) in the back seat ready to move to ......where? Virginia? What was I thinking.....What was HE thinking??? Are we all out of our minds???!!! We don't even know anyone in Virginia! Honestly, I was looking for any reason to turn the car around. The drive back, well, it was just plain awful - we all cried, even his brother. The next few weeks, even months, were eerie, just plain eerie. I checked his away messages 8 times/day - he left a lot of them that first semester, trying to tell his home friends what he was doing (not me!). That was comforting until it didn't change overnight.....then I started to worry because he either was sleeping elsewhere or was perhaps too drunk to change his awy message (hopefully not). A worrying parent can find any extreme reason for these small things. If I asked - he felt I was spying so I had to stop that. In retrospect, I wish I had touched base with him a bit more - kind of pushed some discussion about the changes he was dealing with. The typical advice was to let them get oriented, etc but I learned later, from him, that the first semester, those first weeks, being so far from home and knowing nobody, were very, very difficult. Naturally, I did speak with him but typically a brief hello while he was doing something else. I guess I am suggesting that you ignore any protestations and try to have some conversations during those first few weeks for both of you. We made sure we signed up for parents weekend, then he was home for Fall Break, again for Thanksgiving and shortly after for Christmas - it's the spring semester that goes on forever. By then, though, you have dealt with many issues and so has your child and there is some acceptance and growth in both of you, and a recognition that life is easier, if not fuller, with only one child in the house (smile). I wish you a good trip and don't forget the tissues (hide them, though).</p>
<p>Three years ago, when we dropped our son off I thought it was going to be the trauma of our lives. As it turned out the week before our home city was struck by a terrorist attack, one of my business partners committed suicide, a major supplier closed abruptly cancelling a mountain of orders, my husband developed a potentially life threatening medical condition (later resolved happily), a close family member announced she was destitute (and off her rocker) and when we came home our dog died! The kid? Oh, yeah, he was fine, we barely missed him. :)</p>
<p>It's a tough time. You just have time to appreciate that you have survived the anxiety of potential rejection and bam! you get hit with the anxiety of separation. </p>
<p>I can't say it gets any easier to say good-by after every holiday and visit, but I can tell you with confidence s/he'll STILL BE YOUR KID for years to come.</p>