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<p>I couldn’t agree more. It’s important for kids to understand that this is just something you DO - as is speaking to the people who’ve suffered the loss, as hard and awkward as that can be. </p>
<p>It’s just about the last “teachable moment” anyone ever wishes for, but hats off to you for making the most of it.</p>
<p>Oh, Missypie, how very sad…my beloved SIL passed away 2 years ago, leaving my then 10 and 13 y.o. niece and nephew sans mom. Hard to come up with any rationalization that makes sense for those premature goodbyes.</p>
<p>I keep asking (aka nagging) S to talk to his 2 roommates to see who’ll be providing fridge, TV, etc…his response? I don’t know yet, but I’m bringing the XBox. They do have their priorities!</p>
<p>I chucked at the D walking out of BB&B with no decision heading to Ikea…I tossed the “Back to College” BB&B catalog to son who opened it up, picked the dullest possible bedding and said, “that’s all I want.” The lack of excitement about picking out prom clothes for a girl is balanced with the lack of drama about bedding!</p>
<p>He’s doing a masterful job of separating, too. :(</p>
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<p>So true. </p>
<p>On the fun side, though, S1 found out his dorm assignment today and is very happy.</p>
<p>That is sad, missypie. A mom in our neighborhood passed away shortly after Christmas. Incredibly vibrant, friendly woman with a 9 year old daughter. Sudden stroke; she then was in a coma for 6 months. Just heartbreaking. Makes you really look at life and how brief it is.</p>
<p>PS Thanks for the kind words about son. He is 7 year old’s hero. She is lobbying for him to be ‘home-college-schooled’ (so never to go away).</p>
<p>meh…that was my D.
She did find a duvet cover at IKEA, though and it was only $19.99! :)</p>
<p>So sad missypie. Sending good thoughts and prayers to your friends and family.</p>
<p>Jolynne, our 7-year-old has been urging the “home colleging” solution for the last year. He is REALLY NOT HAPPY about S1’s impending departure.</p>
<p>oh, Missypie, I am sorry to hear that story.</p>
<p>One of my biggest fears is to have to make a phone call to my kids when they are in college to let them know someone has passed away. I wouldn’t know how to approach that conversation. My cousin died in an accident this spring - it was so hard on my S & D and they were very worried about me. I kind of “checked out” for a couple of months. They both were so comforting to me. It really was the first death in many many years we have dealt with - Yes, we were very lucky in that respect. </p>
<p>The news of my cousin’s death came the day we expected the ED college letter in the mail… luckily, the mail was delayed for two days and when we got the good news, we were all able to allow ourselves a few hours of complete joy and excitement before going back to reality & funeral planning.</p>
<p>Oh, the ups & downs of life. I guess it is all a learning experience - not fair, but I do believe there is a reason for it all.</p>
<p>Gosh, DizziMom, that is a thought; a hard one (making the call). </p>
<p>I’m trying to get son’s grandparents (they are super close to him) to visit his college this fall – they are in their mid-80s. And, trying to have him visit them in the 2 weeks left before he leaves! Life is short and things move quickly.</p>
<p>i have to say i wonder what the reason for it all is though!</p>
<p>Each of my four grandparents passed away between my sophomore year in HS and sophomore year in college. I had to reschedule a test when the last one died. When I told my teacher that my grandmother had died, she said “There’s a lot of that going around.” I guess “death of grandparent” must be a common made up excuse that teachers hear.</p>
<p>In five year’s time, my parents lost all of their parents, their oldest D got married and moved to a distant state and their other D (me) left for college. Now that I reflect on it - wow! And they didn’t even have CC on which to vent!</p>
<p>Well we’ve made some progress here. Dellhell appears to have ended with delivery of a replacement which seems to run. And finally, after another reminder, they emailed a return slip so I can drop off the non-working one at UPS for return.</p>
<p>We went for a major shopping trip yesterday to Kohls (got 30% off of anything in the store or online) and while I had hoped to buy bedding thru BB&B and not have to worry about transporting more stuff, the prices were just too good. So purchased bedding and some organizing accessories.</p>
<p>D is back to work today although she’s still not 100% after the wisdom teeth. Told her to not push herself if she’s not feeling well midday but she hates to leave others with her job. She received an email yesterday that she was accepted into the integrated science freshman program at Richmond which she is looking forward to and also an email from the bio department suggesting that she bypass first year biology because of her AP scores. The two emails are incompatible of course but how do you tell that to the department chair exactly? She still hasn’t heard back from the band director on how to audition.</p>
<p>sharonohio, hooray for a positive outcome with the Dellhell minions, and for a productive shopping trip.</p>
<p>Funny about the CC venting, missypie. I would have liked it when we lost three grandparents in 18 months, a few years ago. But in any case I’m awfully glad to be able to come here now. I am really not doing much better than the 7-year-old is, in coping with S1’s impending departure.</p>
<p>D will only be an hour away but I am training myself to think she is halfway across the country. Otherwise I would want to visit her every weekend. I can just imagine how much she would love that!</p>
<p>We’re still waiting on her computer which we did go ahead and order from Cavalier Computers. There was a lively debate going on in the UVA forum about pricing, etc. Once they started throwing around terms like Linux and parallel platforms I thought best to go with the specially configured just for e-school variety. How I ended up with a future engineer I’ll never know.</p>
<p>wouldn’t you know it… S’s laptop arrives in the mail and whole town has a cable outage - and for us… cable, internet & phone service down all day. Poor kid… he could only turn it on… and play games of course :D. Going to download school’s antivirus and anything else they offer for free tonight. Then, I’ll give him the lecture about how one minor “bad” download can wreck havok on a computer. Guess there are enough tech people at school to fix if something really goes wrong.</p>
<p>Wow, missypie and Harriet, that must have been so hard losing that many grandparents close together. I think that’s when it hits kids – in college – because the grandparents are often in their late 70s, 80s, then. I just don’t want to think about it…</p>
<p>On a diff note–son got his laptop too, Dizzimom–apple (gift from said grandparents) that he totally loves. Last night he & I watched “How I Met Your Mother” on his laptop and the quality was really good! And, interesting to see what he & his friends think is funny… :-)</p>
<p>Sitting in the ER waiting for dad to be readmitted …</p>
<p>Well, I did ask my older D when she went to college what she wanted me to do if/when my dad (her Grandpa) should have a major crisis; she said, I want to come home. We never had to bring her … but it is something we’ve thought about and will have to think about as both girls will be out of the house this fall.</p>
<p>Zetesis, oh no. So sorry to hear that your dad needs to go back into the hospital, right after coming home. Sending good thoughts to him and to you and the rest of your family.</p>
<p>Zetesis, adding my prayers to Harriet’s good thoughts.</p>
<p>Zetesis - more good thoughts for you and your dad. So hard to think about losing parents just as our kids are leaving. Sigh.</p>
<p>Zetesis–hope your dad is okay and gets what he needs at the hospital. A pharmacist friend gave me a trick (esp applicable w/older patients) – she said while in the hospital, repeatedly wipe down every surface (esp door handles, bed bars & other places were many people touch) w/Chlorox wipes. Spray Lysol spray in the bathroom. She told me that secondary infections are a significant prob w/older patients in hospitals, and that helps minimize. </p>
<p>Maybe most people do this already; for me it was a new (& good) idea. Staff at hospitals who’ve seen my wiping everything down have not been offended; a few have said: “I wish everyone did this.”</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your dad.</p>