<p>I</p>
<p>My message disappeared… </p>
<p>I’m sure the kids are fine enjoying college life, I mean…how are the parents doing? Are you already used to one o more than one less around the house?
I don’t know if I’m the lucky one, but I’m having a better communication with my S this semester than the first one, and I’m getting used to the idea that distance doesn’t mean anything because I will always be there for him and so will him for us.</p>
<p>I’m hanging in there. Although my daughter is wonderful about keeping open communications, I still find the second semester adjustment hard. She’s doing well, happy and healthy. We are also secure in our family relationship of being there for each other, but… I’m better than I was…but still adjusting.</p>
<p>be aware the second semester of freshman year can be harder for the parents than the first.During semester one, you are preoccupied with all sorts of arrangements and adjustments, and therefore have more “things” to talk to the kids about.Theres a parents weekend to go to, thanksgiving and winter break holidays to arrange…maybe even a fall break.Spring semester, they return,they know their way around, all room/dorm/arrangemments have been made.They learned where to eat, when to do laundry,how to wake up.Theres definitely less holiday interaction…many don’t come home for that one Spring break.It’s definitely a longer stretch of time,with less parent interaction.
Oh well, theres the summer to look forward to…maybe they’ll come home then?</p>
<p>I just miss having him around, but we do talk regularly. That helps a lot. My guilty admission is that I do get to see my son from time to time because he’s only an hour away, but still, it’s not the same as having him around. Anyway, I’m thrilled that he’s adjusted so well, but I still have some work to do.</p>
<p>Fast forward to sixth semester. We and D have to synchronize times for phone calls. She’s on an “away” semester in Eastern Europe and even internet access is touch and go so far. It feels to me a bit like tuning into the BBC for messages for the Resistance… But at least we have a regularly scheduled time…with the nine-hour time difference it would be difficult <em>without</em> scheduling.</p>
<p>The minimum of phone calls <em>from</em> D was probably fourth semester.</p>
<p>Not good at all… my daughter has been sick all week with a heavy cold or flu. Student health center a waste of time, all they did was give her ibuprofin for her fever. She says she feels dizzy when she gets up, so she has only been able to attend 2 classes all week long & hasn’t been able to buy her books; she’s not hungry so she isn’t going down to eat; all she is doing is sleeping in her room… and I feel so danged helpless not being able to be there! (I even offered to fly out, but she responded as if I was nuts – she said she wasn’t asking for my help, just my sympathy. )</p>
<p>calmom, DW has had a similar course this week and found out yesterday she had a raging sinus infection. Surprise! For all the world we thought it was the flu. I hope they can properly diagnose your D and she is up and running soon. Good luck.</p>
<p>I am coping by looking at cc and also the webcam at her school. Does anyone else do that? It makes me feel closer if I can see the changes in the weather, the lights coming on at dusk, how various parts of the campus look with people coming and going (more than one webcam). For me getting to “look” at the campus whenever I want helps a lot.</p>
<p>Calmom–want me to bus over and check up on her? (I would, if you thought it was necessary!) </p>
<p>In our house, we just hope sixth semester goes better than fifth, for a bunch of complicated reasons. Not going to say anything much more than that.</p>
<p>We are hoping 4th semester goes better than 3rd. (medical issues) So far son has no roommate and he’s hoping to maintain that privacy–will certainly help the sleep problems.</p>
<p>I got a bit teary reading this because it will be my daughter next year. My daughter said that I am psycho and she is not going to tell me where her dorm is. She says that, but she calls me up for everything, so I am going to miss her. There is nothing worse than when your kid is sick and you can’t be there. I am secretly hoping that my daughter will be going to a school of driving distance.</p>
<p>
DS hasn’t started spring semester yet… flies down tomorrow. </p>
<p>BUT… he had a medical appointment at home in Maine today and called me … in Mexico!.. because the mapquest directions to the lab weren’t working out. When I couldn’t help him, he called his friend in New Orleans to scope things out for him. God forbid he would carry the actual phone number or name of the clinic where he was heading with him! So he could use the dang cell phone to actually call the lab for directions! No. Better to call Mom some 3500 miles away, or friend 1600 miles away to google it all out.</p>
<p>cathymee, “Oh well, theres the summer to look forward to…maybe they’ll come home then?” In my case my DS who is now a junior has not come home for the summer since his freshman year. He does research at school that time. I made him promise to be home at least for a couple of weeks this coming summer break so he can be there for his brother’s HS graduation. I am so glad he will be able to do that. I hope you have more luck with yours! Anyway, we had him for the whole 3 weeks over Christmas break. Granted that he left the house earlier than his father did and came home later than him, ( he was shadowing surgeons in our local hospital and clinic), I am still grateful to have him home that long.</p>
<p>jmmom, LOL!!!</p>
<p>I guess second semester is going okay. I’ve had two very short phone calls from my son. The first was when he was moving things back into the dorm room, “I made it here!”. The second was was a couple of days later when he couldn’t find a cd and wanted me to look for it. He said everything was “fine”. I’ve talked to my senior daughter three times and have had two e-mails. She’s such a better communicator - no suprise, eh?</p>
<p>Calmom and Curm, I am so sorry to hear about your DDs! I hope that they start feeling better soon. My son told me that everyone on his floor is sick with some intestinal virus, and that he was frightened that he would catch it. So far so good. He has been back for 2 weeks already.</p>
<p>I think that second semester will go a lot faster in my mind, and be a lot less worrisome. I know that DS was successful with his academics in his first semester, and has many very good friends. I know that he is very happy.</p>
<p>I feel like the stretch between Jan. until the first week of March (spring break) is so much shorter than the 3rd week of August until Thanksgiving. After spring break he returns for 8 weeks, and then he will be home, and working for nearly 3.5 months! He already dreads being away from his new friends for 3.5 months, and they are planning 2 mini visits durning that time. I cannot even imagine my son back home for 3.5 months! It will seem be very strange for all of us.</p>
<p>I’m not really enjoying the semester so far. The positive thing about it has been that I’ve been working more with two days off from class. I worked today and feel pretty good because of it.</p>
<p>My classes aren’t boring or anything, but I feel a little bit of tension between me and all but two of my five professors. I also feel less welcome on campus now for some reason. The kids just seem to have gotten dumber over break or something and I don’t really associate with many of them. Thankfully I get to see my co-workers more often now (not just Saturdays but Mondays and some Thursdays as well). My co-workers are like a family to me in a way, almost as much as my old co-workers at my old workplace who pretty much are my blood relatives now. (I still talk to and see those guys now and then so it’s nice to have them around).</p>
<p>I hate weekends anymore. I get so bored after church and work. I can get my work done and have lots of time left to go. And it’s not like I don’t have stuff going on–I’ve got a class or activity every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. Even my home network isn’t as interesting to me anymore, and I finally set that up a few weeks ago after dreaming of having one since 1994.</p>
<p>I think I’ll do well in all of my classes and with all the down time there’s no reason I can’t get a 4.0 as long as I can ask the professors the questions I need answered (shouldn’t be a problem, if they turn me down they’re not doing their job and the dean will get a phone call).</p>
<p>The magic is gone. It was there as a senior in high school when I got to be with amazing people. Every day felt special. It was there a year ago when I began my awesome streak of good grades and was reunited with an old friend in a very timely manner–so timely it was almost bone chilling. Last semester didn’t feel quite as magical yet I kept the streak alive. Now it just feels like all is frozen and cooled off.</p>