<p>New phone call today:</p>
<p>S2: Um, I have really bad hives & my ears are swollen up like cauliflowers. I look like a monster. What should I do?
Me: Take some Benadryl & don’t look in the mirror?</p>
<p>When we went to our son’s college graduation, the night before the ceremony, the TV news broke a story that a college student was shot in an incident right near where son lived. In fact, it was right in a place where son like to grab his food. I went berserk, trying to reach him. Didn’t answer his cell phone. His brother finally called me and told me that my graduating senior was fine, but S1 was actually at the scene when the shooting occurred.</p>
<p>Sadly it was a graduating senior who was shot and killed that night.</p>
<p>On a less tragic note, I got a call from my current college son last year with his voice sounding like he was holding his nose. He wanted to know how you can tell if you broke your nose. </p>
<p>Yes, his nose was broken.</p>
<p>The worst call we had when S was graduating was, “Oh no, have ruined the sash for my graduation gown! What do I do?” He had indeed melted the sash by trying to iron it with a hot frying pan!?!?! He wore the gown w/o & many others wore theirs w/o as well (tho I am not sure they melted theirs with frying pans).</p>
<p>Cpt, I remember that incident and still think about that young man and his poor family! D and I were just discussing it last weekend as she was at a pizza joint near there when one of the girls she was with threw up all over the place (it was her birthday and the girl had apparently been drinking in her room before they left campus). D is not a drinker and has a weak stomach so she went to stand outside in the fresh air, by herself, although there were a bunch of guys in the place with them. I reminded her of the shooting of that student and told her she is never, ever, absolutely forever to walk or even stand around by herself at night…I’d rather pay for dry cleaning and new boots if she gets sick too!</p>
<p>Received an email from DS1 today, subject line: “what can I buy to prevent scarring?” I’ll spare you the details but my nerves have been shot ever since.</p>
<p>12rmh18 , I think you stole my brian. That is exactly what I would tell my son if I got that phone call. LOL</p>
<p>HImom: ROFL about ironing with a hot frying pan. It is creative.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse: how tragic about the shooting before graduation! I’m glad your son was OK.</p>
<p>lololu - wasn’t your S bitten by a Swiss Guard? Are you sure we don’t share a brain and a kid? Sounds like something that would happen to my S.</p>
<p>Report from a Chinese web site about this sad story of the earth quake there. Parents in China got a call from DD who is studying in NZ. DD said “Dad, I am trapped and I am not going to make it”. The call ended and the parents could not reach her again. </p>
<p>It is just so sad. My best wishes go to the family and hope their D is rescued.</p>
<p>Very sad, Dad II. :(</p>
<p>I had two sons living in Buffalo then, the younger graduating the day after that tragedy. The student who was killed was a young engineering major whose graduation ceremony was the day before since the university has several ceremonies depending on the degree. My older son was at a steak sub shop that is popular with the kids in the South Campus area of the school when the incident occurred. I still get bad vibes from it and my heart still aches for the family of that young man. A terrible, terrible tragedy.</p>
<p>Yep, that’s my boy getting bit by the Swiss Guard. </p>
<p>Last night’s phone call.</p>
<p>“I dropped a drill on my phone and cracked the screen. I can still get calls and make calls, but I can’t see my contacts. That means I can only call people whose phone number I know by heart. I can only call you. You wanna talk?”</p>
<p>Whats a swiss guard and how do you get bit by it?</p>
<p>The Swiss Guard are the Pope’s private army/security force and this is how you get bit by one (copy from post 100 this thread)</p>
<p>Son was in bar in Rome with his roommates. A group of Swiss Guard trainees came in and after a while started an argument with a group of Roman kids. Somehow (?) Son’s two roommates ended up in the middle. Son trying to help out his roommates tries to pull off one the Swiss Guard. But to quote my son “he was kind of quick and somehow my hand ended up in his mouth and he bit me. And then he called me a slut.” To which my husband replied “Well it is kind of slutty to go around putting your hand in a strange man’s mouth.” Son speaks both German and Italian so he was sure what the guy said.</p>
<p>Email my mom received at 4am over the weekend:</p>
<p>“Bad news: the new bottle of nail polish remover you just bought me is gone and i need more. Good news: my hands are no longer glued together.”</p>
<p>lololu, the bit about the cel phone and I can only dial you is still cracking me up…</p>
<p>Yea, we were pretty surprised from S’s phone call. He had originally called & asked if we had an iron (we had arrived in the dark at the graduation ceremony to save a spot to sit in). When we told him we didn’t happen to have one handy, he said OK, he’d think of something. Maybe next time he’ll have to think harder. LOL!</p>
<p>So sad to hear about these promising young lives cut short. There have been some of these tragic events at USC as well, including one or more involving HI kids, which is why some of our friends wouldn’t even allow their kids to consider USC. Fortunately, our kids have never been endangered (tho D believes she had at least one close call).</p>
<p>
I LOVE this!</p>
<p>Another ski trip, another phone call >sigh!<</p>
<p>S2: Hi Mom.
Me: Why are you calling me? You’re at the clinic, aren’t you?
S2: Don’t worry, the ski patrol that brought me in says I only dislocated my shoulder. They popped it back in. But I WAS wearing my helmet.
Me: At least it wasn’t your head.</p>
<p>lol 12rmh18. It’s just a shoulder ;)</p>