<p>I was reading this to H on our way home from NYC last night. We were laughing so hard on some of those calls. Packmom’s son turning his truck bed into a hot tub was priceless. I have to raise my hat to all of you moms with sons. You should all get a medal for having survived. May your grandsons be as entertaining as your sons.</p>
<p>S1: Today I jumped out of a helicoptor into the ocean.</p>
<p>May your grandson’s be as entertaining as your sons.</p>
<p>My mother sent all her children into the world with the blessing “May you get the children you deserve” I sure did.</p>
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</p>
<p>I’ve heard of it being done before. It’s pretty funny. At the 2005 National Scout Jamboree, our rappelling tower made our own make-shift pool. We used four or eight army cots, a couple large tarps, rope and duct tape. Then we got the Air Force fire fighters to come out and fill it for us!</p>
<p>roman: no the housing director never did turn him in–I think she felt he had been punished enough! (that semester was probably the worst time of his life, he has Asperger’s and suffered socially, emotionally and academically by suddenly being excluded from so many of the activities/study groups etc where he had just been starting to feel like he was making some friendships of a sort - although it was clear that he was still very much on the fringes and was not the sort of kid others would remember to include when they were planning anything or who they would go out of their way to accommodate. And he did not have the social skills to figure out a different way to reestablish whatever connections he previously had the good news is that he did not become completely depressed - my biggest concern - and the following fall he was back in the dorms and has developed some very good and lasting friendships with a completely new group of kids)</p>
<p>How about when D was on a community service trip…</p>
<p>“Mom, I don’t want you to worry, but kid1 just got a scorpion bite and his leg is starting to subside. Kid2 got dengue fever and is in the hospital and his parents are heading over to Thailand. And Kid3 has some sort of stomach problem and can’t stop throwing up. But I am ok!”</p>
<p>Shrinkrap: fortunately we live in an incredibly “safe” area, so leaving my 12 year old son (DS1) alone while I took care of DS3 in an emergency wouldn’t be a “problem”. I also had DS2 with me. Someone on I-95 reported DS1 to the State Police. I had left him headed to get penny candy in our quiet neighborhood. It’s his common sense that’s the problem, and it’s still his issue.</p>
<p>Another phone call years later, about 2:00 am Saturday morning, when DS1 was about 16-17 years old. Obviously not in our quiet neighborhood, but in our town:
<em>Mom can you pick me up?
*</em>Sure, where are you?<br>
*I don’t know. Kids dropped me off on this dark road and there aren’t any houses or street signs around. It’s really dark here. lots of trees and a stone wall, but I don’t see anything or anyone other than that.</p>
<p>First year in off-campus housing, large, urban college…</p>
<p>D(frantic): Mom, we just got back to the apartment and the word Murder is written on the bathroom mirror and wall in red marker! I’m scared!
Me: What! Stay on the phone with me and have your roommate call the police
D: No, mom, let me call you back. </p>
<p>Just before they called the police, the boys in the downstairs apartment fess up.</p>
<p>Middle of the night calls are so alarming…
D(sobbing): MOM! (more sobbing) Someone stole my wallet!
Me: Where are you?
D(crying so hard, she can hardly speak) I can’t believe this happened!
Me: ARE YOU OUTSIDE OR IN A BUILDING RIGHT NOW?</p>
<p>She was safe, but guess who gets to call and cancel the debit card at 2am…</p>
<p>
Lololu, I’m sure there’s a great story behind this.</p>
<p>Packmom: are you sure we don’t have twins separated at birth? I’m not telling S2 about the hot tub. It might give him ideas.</p>
<p>Mine are minor and both from son (of course).
S: Some kids just tried to mad dog me for my ipod?
Me: what is mad dog?
S: you know,stare me down and take it.
me: what did you do?
S: just starts laughing his head off (he is a big boy who used to wrestle!) </p>
<p>In high school
S: You have triple A don’t you?
Me: why??
S: My friend got his bmw stuck in a wet river bed, I mean really stuck and we don’t want to call his Dad… </p>
<p>Text from Amsterdam:
I lost my credit card. What should I do?</p>
<p>You guys are all stronger than me.</p>
<p>I clench when the phone rings at home after 11:00 p.m.</p>
<p>Got a call from D as she was driving home from school (5 hour drive).</p>
<p>D: Mom? Where’s the next exit with a gas station?
Me: I don’t know, where are you?
D: Somewhere in New York. I’ve been stuck in traffic for a long time. I’m afraid I’m going to run out of gas.</p>
<p><after she=“” confirms=“” location,=“” i=“” check=“” internet=“” for=“” location=“” of=“” next=“” gas=“” station=“” -=“” 5=“” to=“” 10=“” miles=“” away,=“” note=“” traffic=“” alert=“” about=“” major=“” accident=“” causing=“” delays=“”></after></p>
<p>Me: Well you filled up the tank before you left, didn’t you? You should have plenty of gas.
D: No…
Me: …sigh…</p>
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</p>
<p>It’s comforting to know I’m not alone (and it’s 10 PM for me.)</p>
<p>S: Mom, did you know a person can get arrested when they use a pine tree to climb on the roof of the high school?</p>
<p>Packmom, your stories are priceless. It’s a relief to read that ROTC doesn’t turn fun-loving boys into dull and serious men.</p>
<p>I had to train one of my son’s advisors at one of the boarding schools to say “Nothing’s wrong” before even saying hello or stating his name if he called on something routine.</p>
<p>scansmom, I’m glad your son made it out without getting into more trouble!</p>
<p>now I need to clean my keyboard off! I laugh becasue I have been there…not out of the woods yet. Just last week, frantic call from D1: “Mooommm, I’m downtown Baltimore (inner city) and cant find the morgue…” still shudder!</p>
<p>Phone calls from your child’s educational institution are the worst.</p>
<p>From the middle school a few years ago:
School secretary - “Hi, <son>'s OK…”
Of course he wasn’t OK, he had broken his finger. The nailbed had to be stitched back on.</son></p>
<p>And just a couple of weeks ago:
Recorded voice - “This is a message from the Stanford University Emergency Notification System…”
My heart stopped. Earthquake? Bomb? Crazed shooter on the quad?
“… There has been a campus-wide power failure…”
Where we live a power failure isn’t an emergency. It’s just a normal winter annoyance.</p>
<p>MarinMom- I got that same call from the Penn Emergency notification system, but they were just TESTING the d$mn thing! I almost had a heart attack. (Of course, when there was a shooting at the edge of campus recently, they didn’t activate the notification system…)</p>
<p>12rmh18, 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 of Romans. 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>Oh, and I think Packmom stole my kid. He and a friend did the hot tub trick with his friend’s pick-up and had almost the same result.</p>