I am posting this in the cafe b/c if I start it in the “class of XXXX” community, virtually no one it applies to will see it. I was chatting offline with a former cc’er who no longer posts here but keeps up with some she met through her kids’ parents class pages. Those class pages didn’t really start in earnest (with the exception of the HS class of 2009, which is still quite active) until around the HS class of 2016. There are many of us still here with older kids who graduated from college several years ago, but we did not have a “parents community” page (though have seen many on the wedding and grandparents page)! So I got to wondering where our “peeps” and kids (who aren’t “kids” anymore) are, and what they are up to. Would love to catch up with folks and hear how they and their offspring are doing.
I’ll start: DH and I are still in our “too big for the 2 of us but room for if/when the kids ever again will be able to visit” home. No current plans to downsize, and with the pandemic, any thoughts of being in a high rise (apt or condo) would be kaput. DH is still working fulltime but I am semi retired. Working from home these past 6 weeks has been interesting. My favorite line is “I always said when I had the time I’d clean out my closets and pantry: I have discovered that time was not the issue”. LOL!
Both s’s (College classes of 2008 and 2012) are engineers, both are married and live across country in northern California. Both are in the tech industry. Whats funny is, younger s and his wife just moved less than 2 miles from older s and his family (wife and 2 1/2 year old granddaughter) but because of the shelter in place, can hardly see each other. They have birthdays coming up this month and next, so will try to figure out a social distancing visit. We are glad they are near each other, as it makes it easier to visit if/when we can do that. We are scheduled to go in late July/early August, so will have to see.
Sooo… where is everyone? How are you and your kids? Where are they, what are they up to and do you get to see them? Any creative ideas for others day/fathers day? Can’t wait to catch up!
My two class of 2014 HS / 2018 college. D1 moved to Indiana, boyfriend joined the army, was supposed to report on March 30 so daughter moved back to Wyo to wait out basic and officer’s training camps. She left Indiana on March 25 and he was informed on March 26 that his reporting was delayed, for either 2 weeks or until August (so far no report date). She was supposed to go back to her job as a ranch hand/trail guide but they keep putting her off so she started at Starbucks this week. Covid hasn’t been kind to her.
D2 is an engineer and has been with her firm since graduation. She was supposed to move from Florida to Denver with this same company on May 14 but that is now delayed until June or later. She’s been working from home and getting paid (plus stimulus check), adopted a new (second) dog. Her biggest inconveniences, other than the delayed move, are her gym is closed, her beach is closed, she couldn’t go to Vegas.
D, class of 2009, has lived overseas and traveled the world. She is now teaching high school and living about 40-50 minutes from me. She is single, has always maintained that she does not want children, so she may never even get married. She has no BF at the current time, but is not against the idea. She loves being independent and having the ability to travel during school vacations and summers off. Teachers in our area make a decent living. She makes more money than I do.
My S, who only took a few classes at the local community college, is married, owns a house about 1.5 miles from me, and has my only grandchild (who is perfect, I might add!)
Two daughters, class of 2013 and class of 2015. I still live in the family home in southcentral Wisconsin.
D13 went to college in southern California and lived in that area for a few years, then moved to NYC , where she has been since 2015. She is a writer, editor, and server (but not doing the third right now because the bar where she works has been shut down since early March).
D15 went to college in Minnesota. She worked in NYC for two years and now is in her third year of graduate school in northern California.
I miss them but I’m no longer freaked out that they both live in areas that were early hot spots for COVID-19.
D is college class of 2017. We are in Pacific Northwest. She went to school in NY state and moved to Boston after graduation. Her boyfriend from the same college moved together. She worked full time for a year while her boyfriend went to grad school. After a year, she started to take graduate classes part-time while working full-time.
She is taking time so still taking graduate classes. Boyfriend got his master, got a job, and he and his dad bought a condo.
We communicate via text and skype once in a while but not so often. They both visit us for holidays. We know they are solid and doing good.
Once our younger (college class of 2021) graduates, I would love to visit my older D in Boston.
Next year, she will be off from my company sponsored health insurance!!
Hi @jym626! DD graduated 2008 with a Social Science degree/ DS 2011 from the same university with an engineering degree. DD worked and studied overseas for several years after university, then got a funded MA at an ivy. After working as an administrator in higher ed for several years, she decided to quit and be a stay-at-home parent (just as the pandemic hit!). She and her spouse and beautiful baby live half an hour from us, and she brings the baby over several times a week. (For safety, we only see them and they only see us until the pandemic eases.) She wants to make a career change, and work parttime - but all is on hold now!
DS and his wife live in a major city a 3-hour drive away. He worked as an engineer and made big bucks, but hated the job, so he went back to school and just completed his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. He takes the licensing exam in July, and enters the worst job market ever! He is extremely lucky and planned well: he saved while working as an engineer and so graduates with no debt and his wife is still employed, but he is sad for so many of his fellow students who will graduate with large loans and bleak job prospects into a career that is already poorly paid.
I retired to take care of my grandbaby - something I promised years ago that I would do. It was lovely while it lasted, but then DD decided to quit. Those baby years are short and sweet and she felt like she wasn’t able to spend enough time with him, and she wasn’t happy in her job. So now, I’m retired and getting plenty of grandbaby/DD time, but I will need to get my butt in gear and exercise/ volunteer so I don’t turn into a total potato. DH is working from home. We both hope that the City pensions will still be there when he retires in a few years and that the economy will pick up for all. (We’re in Texas; yup, it’s warm and getting warmer!)
My daughter is college class of 2016. She has been through a few job changes since graduation, but she is currently working for an international REIT with a Boston office and has been there for two years or so. She was a liberal arts grad (German/Art History) and what she does is not related to her major, but she enjoys the work and the industry, and they’ve been promoting her. She is currently working from home during the lockdown (she lives in Cambridge). She’s engaged to be married in spring 2021 so I am hoping restrictions will lift by then. She and her fiance wish to stay in the Greater Boston area permanently, which is fine by me as it’s only a 4-5 hour drive from where we live.
I’m so happy to be beyond the college stage of parenthood and I realize in retrospect that I was way too into it and stressed out, but I still enjoy the Parent Cafe and all the good tips, advice, and recs here.
Happykid, college class 2014, worked in the DC/Northern VA/Baltimore area for four years and then headed off to an MFA program in lighting design. She has just wrapped up the second year, and is in stay-in-place mode in her university town with a couple of light boards and a giant computer screen, 40+ houseplants, and a newly adopted cat. All of her previously scheduled summer gigs have been cancelled, so her plans include online training for the light boards, making wild art, promoting further developments in the nascent “Theater of Zoom”, and doting on her plants and cat.
Happydad is in an essential industry and working from home most days. I’m teaching very much part-time at the community college and nabbed a college laptop when we went remote two days before spring break. Life is better when each person has their own device and their own office space. Even if mine is the dining table and needs clearing a couple times a day. Maybe better actually. It means I do a slightly better job of keeping my papers and books in some sort of order.
Our calendars have been completely cleared because of the virus - of course. But thanks to my college and Happykid’s university, we have access to two different corporate-level Zoom accounts and can check in on each other and other family members “live” pretty much whenever we want. It really is magic to see everyone’s faces and not just hear their voices. It is like having them here with us.
My 3Ds (college class 2013, 2015 and 2018 are all on the east coast which is across the country from me. Oldest works remotely for a start up in SF (I’m hoping they make it through this economic downturn) but moved across the country with her longtime bf who just finished his first year of business school. D2 is an engineer and is, happily, with the first firm that hired her out of college. Youngest D is in website/user design and started off in Boston. Her company abruptly transferred her to Philly and it was a tough transition but now she’s found her group and is pretty happy.
We think the two younger kids have jobs that should be secure through this period (fingers crossed). Oldest will be taking the GRE (first set of scores expired) and is thinking about grad school although, of course, we hope her current company will make it through.
We were supposed to all meet up in Jamaica after D2 took her PE exam in April but, of course, both the exam and the trip were cancelled. We had also talked about an international trip with the family + bf in the fall and that’s now off too. I did make reservations for a trip to Hawaii in October following the NEXT scheduled PE exam but we’ll just see what things look like as it gets closer.
D2’s birthday is coming up and it warms my heart that her sisters are traveling (by car) to visit her. Long discussion about safety and they all feel comfortable with it.
I miss my kids but am probably connecting more with them now than I was before. One D lives alone and we now talk or video chat daily. For the month of May we’re doing a 10 minute youtube workout together each day. Her sisters join when they can.
Not sure about Father’s Day gifts…dh just mentioned he’d like some martini glasses so I’ll have to pass that idea along.
My D (class of 2011) went to school in Nashville & stayed there for a year following graduation. She got a job with a health care consulting firm. She has been able to live wherever she wants, because of the nature of her work (remote & travel). She decided to move to Chicago, where she met her now-H … turns out he is from our area, and they moved back to the area to buy a house once they got engaged. She left her firm for about a year, during which time she gained some incredible experience while working with a very small group setting up an ACO from the ground up. When that project wrapped, she returned to her first firm & is happily working remotely. Her H hires dialysis health care workers, so he is also still working (remotely). They have a dog, and I expect that they will start a family in the next year or two.
S (class of 2014) is having a harder time with life. He went to school locally (after a year away). He doesn’t live with us, but he lives in the area. He had several entry level type jobs that were loosely related to his degree (biology). For the past two years, he has worked as a chemical analyst. He is fortunate to be working now (not remotely), but he is not happy with his job. His GF of more than five years recently broke up with him. He has finally started addressing some long-standing issues that have been holding him back in life, and I hope that he will be able to figure things out.
H retired a year & a half ago. I left my job in September because it was soul-sucking. What a good move … I was in higher education administration, and I would have been expected to do far too much through the current crisis. I would like to work again, but I haven’t heard a peep from any of my job applications. I don’t know that I will get a decent job at this point, but I will be okay if I don’t.
H and I are happy to stay in our home, even as our friends move “up north” or to southern states. We like being near our kids. His family has a small summer cottage (about 3.5 hours away) that we will eventually inherit, so we have a get-away spot.
So great to hear from and about the “grown and flown” kiddos!
Thank heavens for the digital world. At lease we can keep up with each other and our far away family. DS#1 sent a video of his wife giving him a buzzcut, and them baking the pretzels we sent to them for mothers day ( his wife is a tough person to buy for - she really appreciates everything but she really doesnt need anything and they have a small house, so no room for stuff.
Younger s turns 30 tomorrow!! So hard to believe!!