<p>We never went to parent’s weekend with my older son, partly as he is not very sociable and it’s a long drive and expensive. Younger son however is not too far from both my Mom and my brother and it was good excuse to see them as well. From past reading I knew not to set hopes up too high about spending lots of time with him, and that was also clear from phone calls. I never thought I’d say about this kid, that we actually advised him not to spend all his time working and to try to find some time for a little fun.
We had three meals with our kid, brought a pile of stuff he decided he needed after all, showed his grandmother the campus and saw some of the music and dancing and went and fetched a book for him that he couldn’t get at the campus bookstore. We went to just one lecture because it was given by the leader of the course that was the main reason he is at Tufts. This guy is pretty amazing - very charismatic and energetic. We talked to him briefly afterward and it was pretty cool that he knew who our kid was. (He runs the institute that sponsors the course, but aside from interviewing the kids to decide whether or not to let them in, I wasn’t sure how involved he was otherwise.)</p>
<p>Went last weekend. It was great to see our son, meet his friends and see his favorite places on campus. He was happy to see us Friday evening but, I think, just as happy to see us leave on Sunday afternoon. and so it goes…</p>
<p>Our Parents’ Weekend was nice. My husband wasn’t able to make it due to a prior job committment, so I took our grown twins girls. It was close to a 3 hour drive down. We swung by and picked my daughter up from school in the late afternoon and spent a few hours at relatives’ ranch about a half hour away. We had a wonderful time there. Lots of Swiss-Italian family history. And, my daughter was excited for a “home cooked” meal. These folks are both 89 years old and amazingly vibrant and healthy and really enjoy dishing out the hospitality. An extremely fun couple with a sense of humor. It’s good for my college age daughter to see that “old folks” can be “cool”, too. :)</p>
<p>We drove back to the residence hall and my daughter’s older sisters helped her with her Halloween costume. I sat out in the small lounge and visted with some of her dorm mates. I can see how it’s become one, big family. Nice group of kids! Both girls and boys live on her floor. In fact, one of the gals was telling me that the guys are like older brothers and very protective.</p>
<p>Saturday was spent driving around looking for more costume accessories. Later that day and evening we attended the Tailgate BBQ and football game. My daughter sat with the student cheering section close by. We did sit together at the BBQ, however. She went out with friends later and we went back to the hotel. We won the game, by the way! </p>
<p>Sunday morning we drove out to a nearby shopping center so my daughter could buy a few “needed” items of clothing to squeeze into her already-abundant closet. 
She also bought some milk and Kleenex and one last item for her costume. We ate lunch out at a nearby cafe. Back at the dorm her sisters helped her with the finishing touches on her costume. I was getting a little antsy by then since it was raining and I wanted to be home before dark.</p>
<p>All in all, it was a successful weekend. I would say the time spent with my daughter wasn’t so much about sitting down and “visiting” one-on-one, but more about just being there and having “the wheels” to drive her around to the various stores. I really liked the visit to our family’s farm more than anything. That gave me the time to actually share a meal with her surrounded by family. It was more about relaxing and just savoring the moment.</p>
<p>Did not attend Parent’s weekend. Although we had looked forward to it, since she is a freshman, the school scheduled it for Columbus day weekend. She is a 10 hour drive away so we opted to fly. However, the airfares were high due to the holiday weekend. On top of that, there was a big football game scheduled and you could not get a hotel room in the town. BTW - they had classes on Monday, so even though we could have returned Tuesday she would not have been available. As it was she had tons of work and was stressed out about getting all the work done. We miss her a lot but decided to just get out of her way and see her Thanksgiving. Next year, we would have to schedule everything by June to get flights and hotel rooms. Crazy…</p>
<p>My husband and I couldn’t get out of work for the Friday of Parents Weekend so we sent my mom and her husband. My mom is an alumni and they have season tickets to football and go to quite a few basketball games. They LOVED it! My son met them for breakfast and dinner and they went to some presentations and toured the athletic facilities and the library. My son took them to his dorm and introduced them to all of his friends. One of the presentations was given by Rafer Johnson and the gymnastic coach and was about John Wooden. My mom had been there at the same time as Rafer Johnson so that was a big thrill. My son said he was really glad that they came.</p>