<p>S is 7 hours away and he took WAY too much stuff first year. He realized this especially when it came time to pack up in May. This year he has pared down (though still more than I think he really needs!) :)</p>
<p>Ok, moved in 8:30. Dh met us at the dorm to unload. Then we both went to work. Picked kid up for lunch and ran back home to get a few other things. Mid-afternoon d1 calls to say “can you bring more hangers when you come up for the parent picnic”. Perhaps being farther away would have made her a more efficient packer? </p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t think she took too much. It all fit in the hatchback (back seat folded down). And one entire shelf in the closet is still empty.</p>
<p>A former coworker lived right across the local university. As in, you could see the university from his front porch. His son - you guessed it - moved into the dorm which could not have been more than a five-ten minute walk from his house…</p>
<p>One of my BFFs lives 2 blocks from the school her daughter chose because it has a good nursing program and was generous with merit $$.</p>
<p>for years a group of us have met for coffee after our kids left for school in the mornings,etc., at a favorite local coffee shop.</p>
<p>Daughter is now demanding that mom and none of mom’s friends go there any more because students from the local university also frequent that coffee shop…mom and friends are being accused of encroaching on her turf! LOL.</p>
<p>Mom is also supposed to avoid the local CVS and salad/sandwich place that accepts the university deal bucks.</p>
<p>(apparently mom is supposed to vanish off the face of the earth except for when she is supposed to appear immediately, like a genie from a bottle, whenever the daughter desires something…like the constant comment teabags she wanted mom to rush over so she could have her favorite tea before she went to class…it was 8:20 and she had a 9:00 class!)</p>
<p>Going to school so near to home certainly has its pros and cons for both the students and the parents…</p>
<p>Our DS went to TWO different instate publics in our home state of NJ.
Was never more than 1.5 hrs away from home.</p>
<p>It might as well have been 8 hrs…he came home rarely. We never showed up unannounced. But we did get to attend EVERY one of his music performances.
That was important to him and to us.</p>
<p>He went to grad school 3 hrs away…quite more difficult (but even more important) to get to his concerts at that distance. </p>
<p>He’s back home now, will start his first ‘real’ job next week just a few counties over and is looking forward to his next move.</p>
<p>S is about 45 minutes away - but only about 15 -20 minutes from my job. Still easy enough that I could run something over if necessary – or to avoid embarrassment, use a male coworker who lives near the campus as the courier! (he volunteered to do so)</p>
<p>During Jr yr, D1 would not even consider Rutgers and finally said one reason is that we would drop in too much. After I stopped laughing and assured her that would not be the case that I would jump in the car and drive , she came to her senses. Dropped her off yesterday with plenty of things to last the semester. Only thing she didn’t take was a printer & will re-evaluate that next month. Her brother has Saturday swim meets at Rutger’s Aquatic Center every 1-2 months, so that could be a scheduled time to drop off anything she needs.</p>
<p>Well, our close school is my employer, so the potential for embarrassment is great, for both of us. D1 and I don’t have the same last name (she has h’s) and we don’t look alike. Yes, long time employees will know who she is, but certainly not everyone. Some of her classmates will be in my classes. Anyway, I offered to unfriend her on Facebook, to walk on by if I saw her in my building, etc., but she doesn’t seem to care if people know we’re related. Guess she just figured I came with the territory.</p>
<p>Our D is a freshman at a college 20 minutes from our house. She moved in yesterday. After moving, we realized that she still needs some other things. It looks like I will be delivering additional items to her next week. I’m glad that she chose to go to a college that is nearby. She can come home whenever she wants. She’s an only child so I’m suffering from “empty nest syndrome.”</p>