<p>Cami, my condoleces also. I;m sorry you're having to deal with all of this at the same time. Sounds as if your son is managing fairly well, so you can be thankful for that at least. I'm sure you'll hear good news soon.</p>
<p>Cami - condolences on your b-i-l from me as well. Enjoy the memories.</p>
<p>A pox on mailboxes that don't cough up what you're looking for, websites which don't tell, and fora where all the applicants are going crazy.</p>
<p>On to April, May, Israel and the solo deposit.</p>
<p>Cami, sending thoughts your way at the loss of your brother-in-law in his prime of life. It's very sad indeed. Glad your hubby got to spend lots of time with him. </p>
<p>During my D's college process two years ago, my Dad was also dying of lung cancer so I can relate. I also was constantly out of town every other week all fall of helping her with the application process and visits, etc. He died over Thanksgiving weekend of her senior year and she also made several trips, as well as the funeral. One of the last things my dad even said was asking about my D's college acceptances (she had an EA app in at that juncture). </p>
<p>Anyway, thinking of you at this time. I know the stress of the death of a loved one mixed with the anxiety over college decisions is not easy but you'll get through it and your son will be thriving at college next year.</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>:::::Cam:::::slugghuggs </p>
<p>Like Sybbie said, we've got your back in here. I'll be more than happy to take mailbox patrol for a while. As everyone in here knows, I'm a lovable, peaceful slugg. My relatives will tell you that I ooze harmony and tranquility. :p</p>
<p>I'll use my EvilNeighbor potato bazooka on your mail box if it doesn't play nice with the big envelopes. :D</p>
<p>Cami, best wishes to you and yours.</p>
<p>My wife had her second anniversary follow up cancer scan this past Friday. A clean scan, and she would have a clean bill of health and be officially done with treatment.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the scan was inconclusive. Some mark the size of a pencil point. The radiologist said it could be nothing, a mark on the xray, but W will have to go through the process again next year. I feel for her; she was so looking forward to closure.</p>
<p>REgarding admissions, the wait is hard enough in general, and for art kids some of the merit awards don't come out until mid April, but when a school completely screws things up it is frustrating in the extreme. One school 1.) had no record of the app fee being paid (until I showed them the credit card bill) 2.) is on the third copy of high school transcripts sent and 3.) has no record of financial aid forms and tax returns being received, even though I delivered them by hand over a month ago. Safe to say all the merit money there has already been awarded to someone else...</p>
<p>My D is taking the whole process better than I am. Be glad when we know where we stand on the final two schools...</p>
<p>Cami - thanks for the visit. I'm not the hugging type, but sounds like even I can see the merits. >>>cyberhugs<<< and congrats on an S who sounds like a keeper.</p>
<p>I'm sorry m&sdad that your wife did not get the closure she hoped for to put this all behind her. </p>
<p>I think I know which college you mean. Last year, my D applied there and we registered for her audition online (which is the only way you can for that school) and we did it the first min. you were allowed to and I had the printed online receipt and everything. Some time later, when checking my D's account for that college for materials received, it said everything was received but that no audition appt. was made and I was rather shocked all that time later as I had the appointment confirmation and receipt of payment in my hands. I called and the audition slots were filled but I explained what happened and thankfully I made copies of the confirmations and receipts and I was told to fax those copies and then they honored them (as they should have...I mean I even had paid, lol). Just think if I had not checked current status online. I had already booked flights based on the confirmation. There were a few other things that weren't smooth there on an organizational front so to speak.</p>
<p>overseas, calmom, sybbie719, over30, sootzievt, sluggbugg, m&sdad, and Alumother.....</p>
<p>Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your kind words, hugs, and offers of service are greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Sluggbugg - I think I am particularly in need of your services. Anyone who oozes "harmony and tranquility" would be a highly useful addition to our crazy house. </p>
<p>Despite my good intentions, I am already falling off the bandwagon. This time my craziness focuses not on the mailbox, but the computer. I regretfully can not carry the mailbox with me when I go out of town. (Actually I tried, but it would not budge.) However, we take a wireless laptop with us on trips. </p>
<p>Tonight, my son was poking around in the Tufts forum (with mom trying to sneak a look over his shoulder). A number of applicants were discussing the fact that the TAMS website had been ominously offline for over five hours. This is what happened last year right before decisions were posted. So my son got on his cell phone and is now taking bets among his friends who also applied whether this is just a normal website crash, or the school is putting up decisions 13 days in advance! My understanding is that the present odds are 6 to 1 in favor of advance notification. We shall see..... ;) </p>
<p>m&sdad - I am sorry to hear of your wife's disappointing check-up. Hopefully, this is just a small and meaningless glitch in her overall recovery. It wasn't too long ago that I considered myself and those closest to me invincible. But as the years pass, that assumption is a luxury I've had to put behind us. So far we are very fortunate, but there have been a few medical tests ordered for my husband where I crossed my fingers and my toes to make sure it came out alright. Heck, compared with that, even college applications are a cinch!</p>
<p>I also sympathize with your tale of lost records and credentials. We've had a few instances of "lost" paperwork, though none so bad as yours. In one case they let us fax in some materials before the official forms were resent. In the other, son's GC got on the phone and the missing material was miraculously discovered in five minutes, after being lost for six weeks!</p>
<p>Another "LAST-last" over the weekend. We went to the very last performance of one of our kids in a high school play. Every school year, there are the normal "lasts." The last PTA meeting; the last project due; the last day of rehearsals; the last progress report; the last time I'll have to put up with that old bag in the attendance office until next Fall; the last awkward meeting in the grocery store with a mother who wants to tell me what a bas*#% my son was to her daughter because he went to Homecoming/Prom with somebody else; and the last merciful day of school... When it's the last kid graduating from high school, it's a last last. We're not letting any of these slip by this year unnoticed. ;) </p>
<p>I haven't been able to recognize any of SluggJr's friends for three years. Every time I see one of them they look like either a model/dancer/20-year old college student or a construction worker with long sideburns and a soul patch. This time, I had an actual program to tell me who they were. </p>
<p>The kids were highly unrecognizable, anyway. The play was set in 1936, and they were all in period clothing, hair, make-up, and hats. As each actor made h/her appearance on stage, the audience gasped and sometimes clapped at the transformation from an everyday high school student to a character in a pre-war, New Deal-era family. I now know why my S came home one day during a week of rehearsals with a buzz cut. He hadn't been that clean-shaven since Eighth Grade. :)</p>
<p>We hung out at the backstage door as the actors left the theater. Our son gave us a hug, and then a non-trampy-looking girl we'd never met hugged him. Another girl handed him a carnation as he turned and lunged toward the stage door to greet a fellow cast member. I stood there feeling a little star struck, not only because of their talent as actors, but because it was a shining moment for the seniors. </p>
<p>It was a good LAST-last! :cool:</p>
<p>Slugg - enjoy every Last-squared. I still bask in the glow of all of my 2005 lasts. Most particularly, last concert, when the Seniors did a special encore of You'll Never Walk Alone. <em>stops to grab Kleenex</em></p>
<p>Just found this thread. Have a HS J and a college S. Am losing track of time. My HS son was disappointed last night when he discovered we got HBO just in time for the last season of the Sopranos. I told him that he wasn't going to be here next year anyway, so why did he care. I felt terrible when I remembered he was a junior. Not that I am wishing a year away, but was just confused.</p>
<p>OK! I'm in and I'm buying the next round: As decisions begin to trickle in, what has become clear is that D2 is going EAST. DH and I have begun to fantasize the drop off for our brown eyed girl, it goes something like this: After sending D1 off to a far away country for her year abroad armed with a handfull of euros and a sense of adventure ...the tears will hardly be dry before we pack up the mini van like we did for so many years with the girls, this time with only D2, her boxes packed with bits and pieces of new and old.Somehow D2's I-pod headphones will become misplaced, I don't know how that could happen.... We'll all get in the van, I'll hit the child safety locks to prevent any unfortunate escapes. We'll head out to drive the Alcan across southern Canada. Do a little camping, like we used to, you know, wood smoke,pocket meals, samores, cheap wine drunk from tin mugs,peeing behind a tree...ah the memories that will bring back. Explore the sites, have conversation. listen to books on tape. Just enjoying the moments.It's only 4200 miles, I think we can do this without much bodily harm. When we arrive in D2's college town, we'll find TARGET. I am TARGET DEPRIVED!!! OMG it will be worth the trip. Stock up on dorm supplies (having printed out every last page on the "What to take to College Thread) . DH and I will get our Kodak moment!. D2 will be tucked in, she'll figure it all out. She'll be ok, we know that. It will take me a while to GET IT, but she will be fine . DH will fly back to the Last Frontier cause after all we have two tuitions to pay, and airfare to Spain to put hands on D1 is my Christmas wish. My sister will fly up from her southern home and join me to explore historic B&B's (hey I slept on the ground on the way out) Drive the blue highways of New England, head across Wyoming and Montana. Alaska I'm coming back, but I am taking my time. D2 has a different fantasy: It goes like this.........BUY ME tickets to Mexico resort: One of the "girls" families has a condo "the girls": 5 who have been together though thick and thin have been invited and they are going. After all they will be scattered to the wind come Sept. BUY ME new computer! BUY ME new cell phone! BUY ME new sheets and towels. BUY ME a new instrument - I will be taking music classes you know. BUY ME boxes...I'll pack, you ship. BUY ME plane ticket, I'll be fine. See you at Christmas. ARE WE THERE YET> WHERE THE HECK IS THE MAILMAN???</p>
<p>Darn annoying specks, m&s! Darn annoying office workers! I was reading one of our bathroom books this morning, a paperback we purchased last year when S was a Junior From He--, and we were trying not to commit any word ending in "-cide." I was reading a paragraph about letting go, cleansing my mind, and experiencing my wholeness. </p>
<p>Okay, so the guy who wrote this book probably pictured his readers lying on a sandy beach somewhere, or in a meadow eating tofurkey sandwiches. But, not in a bathroom.</p>
<p>It changes the meaning of "letting go," "cleansing," and "hole-ness." So, I started to flip through the book to see if every word I read had a double bathroom meaning... There was talk of "releasing," "a place to worry and contemplate meaning," and "obstructions." Huh. "Moving slowly" is more "relaxing." Okaa-y. There had to be something in here that wasn't about...well, you know, potty-time! :p </p>
<p>Alright, 14 more steps of "Release." A whole chapter on "control," and what's this about a guina pig?! Um. Ouch, a "schism" sounds painful. "Resistance," "holding," and I think I'll skip over the part about the free-range chicken weenies. Oh no, there it is! THE word...DUMP! I'll give him a break because I misread "the truck," as "the TUCK," but I think this guy has a serious underlying fixation with his a#%! :D</p>
<p>The girls are on a roll this morning! :D (Hey, it's still morning for 2 more minutes!)</p>
<p>Hey there, that crabbylady can <em>write</em>. Giving slugg a run for her money. But never to topple her crown as the SA bard; just joining her and giving us another one. Drinks on me for all you Writers-in-Residence.</p>
<p>Massmom - your post is one of those small gems. LOL and then still thinking about it. Funny how as a mom we can be so forgetful and yet still so focused on what's right for them.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"I told him that he wasn't going to be here next year anyway, so why did he care. I felt terrible when I remembered he was a junior." --massmom
[/quote]
:D Hahahahaha! </p>
<p>Enjoyed the trip, crabbylady! :D</p>
<p>Massmom your story reminded me of this CC "classic" I read TWO years ago. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't know who wrote. Recently, I discovered that Sluggbugg resides here in the back booth, and I suspect she can claim it. Sluggbugg put down the drink, any chance this looks familiar??? :) </p>
<p>BOYFRIEND FUNNY EMAIL- (two years ago) </p>
<p>"Amd, thanks for sharing your story. It sounds as gut-wrenching as our horrendous journey this past year! Our dd was also heavily influenced by the "friend factor." </p>
<p>We had nervous breakdowns every other day for eight or so months because it sure looked like our dd's college pick was going to be decided by her b/f's father! He's a perfectly nice man (not really), but this dad ruled over the son's apps. Every time this kid would add another Ivy or "Little" Ivy (as a fifth generation Nevadan, I had never heard of Little Ivies until this year) to his list, our dd would scramble to find a backup that would put her in the same vicinity. </p>
<p>After all those years of leading that freakin' Girl Scout troop on campouts in the freakin' cold rain, eating freakin' half-baked doughboys, and fighting off raccoons and cougars, in order to instill independence and self-confidence in our daughter, I GET THIS?! We could not believe it. </p>
<p>All we could do was make sure that she had a realistic safety list, with colleges we knew she'd actually want to attend that were also affordable. Try coercing an 18-year old into doing anything that even remotely agrees with what her parents think is a good decision. We knew that if we came out too strongly against this b/f, we'd lose whatever influence we had on her. </p>
<p>We writhed around with this situation until the first week in April, when the Ivies and Little Ivies released their acceptances. This poor guy got shot down left and right. To make things worse, he got his wisdom teeth extracted that same week. Even we felt sorry for him. </p>
<p>Our dd, however, got accepted to all of the colleges on her list, except two biggees back East that were her stretches (MIT & Brown), and one up in Washington that she had taken off the table after applying because it was too small. Three of her acceptances came with merit scholarships, so while we were happily celebrating in our house, the b/f was getting hammered by the unreachable schools picked by his father. </p>
<p>As it turned out, he got accepted by all of the UC's he applied to as his safeties. We would not have predicted it, but the one he really wants to attend is the same one our dd started out with as her first choice way back before we all went nuts! </p>
<p>Long before she even met this guy, our dd wanted to attend UC Santa Cruz. After she got her acceptances, she made her final decision based on all of the other things we had been begging her to consider all year. The whole situation flipped, and in the end, it was she who had the better selection of schools to choose from. After strategizing all year long to follow her b/f, it is HE who is following HER. </p>
<p>And, that's where they're both going next September 20th as soon as we can slow the car down long enough to kick them both out! </p>
<p>Btw Theasrhs, our dd was also accepted at Lewis & Clark. Great school, and I think your dd's going to love it there! My dh got all verklemped (sp?) when he was organizing our dd's non-acceptance forms. He really liked L&C! :::sniff::: On the other hand, I called the Salvation Army this week to pick up another load of baby clothes."</p>
<p>whoops, it was crabbylady's post that reminded me of unclaimed story...I wonder if D is still with "beloved" boyfriend...anyone know?</p>
<p>Is this the BF with the father who is the Orwellian Chef, i.e. Big Brother is watching you cook Thanksgiving dinner:)?</p>
<p>We are <em>I repeat</em> are waiting for the Sluggbugg sitcome once SluggS takes off and Slugg's total resource set can be devoted to her creative endeavours....</p>