<p>D is off to the beach this weekend. Hopefully will get some things done with S who will be returning to school soon. We drop D off on the 22nd, then son heads to school on the 24th. My house will be sans children for the first time since 1989. </p>
<p>D suggested I start knitting- which I haven’t done since I made baby sweaters. It’s an idea. Still trying to decide on a fan and a few other items- son still needs a refrigerator. </p>
<p>Missy, I’m just like your son- if I didn’t have a stack of books nearby I’d be lost! I imagine D will be taking a few favorites with her as well. And she’s never done a load of laundry either- maybe the beach laundry will be a good starting point.</p>
<p>Ohhhh, you’re making me all weepy. We’ve gotten emails from S1 in Israel describing in great detail the history, culture, religious sights. How did he become so smart and articulate? S2 has a CALENDAR on his phone and is actually keeping himseld and his various gigs organized, which has always been my job. Though he and friends were caught pouring lighter fluid on a fire in our portable firepit last night to speed up the coals for marshmallow roasting. DH intervened, thank goodness… He leaves in 17 days, and I’m mostly in denial… Those “last” lessons with his drum teacher are going to kill me though, obviously, as a music major they won’t be his last. But as he said in his college essay “My Saturday morning lessons with Marty became my weekly barometer for 11 years.” WAH!!! I sat in on those for the first two years…</p>
<p>And S3 is playing so much World of Warcraft, I think his head will explode and Badmom is ignoring it. I’m so glad soccer training starts next week…</p>
<p>missypie, D loves to read and is seriously worried about what she will do without her weekly stash of new books from the library. She didn’t particularly like my response that she’ll get a life :)</p>
<p>I’m alternating between tearing up and smiling as I catch up here. </p>
<p>Rug color? You’ve got to be kidding! I can’t even get my son to be concerned about a fridge, and he’s a late night snacker extraordinaire. If I suggested a rug he’d roll his eyes at the least. Fortunately, he has an Ikea gift card, and I’m trying my best to get all his dorm room supplies that he’ll deign to permit me to talk about purchased ahead of time, so the Ikea card might buy a rug.</p>
<p>His clothes packing will take all of 10 minutes and one check-in suitcase. His dilemma is XBox, PS3 or both. We’ll STRONGLY be encouraging just one. He’s an only child, and I don’t think he realizes how different life will be with two roommates and a building full of other guys to hang with.</p>
<p>Thanks, Historymom, for your nice comment. I’ve met two CC moms in person, and it was such a pleasure both times. </p>
<p>I got up this morning (west coast) and discovered I was three pages behind in posts! With dates of departure nearing, the flurry of activity is increasing. Yikes.</p>
<p>D continues to have happy exchanges with her roommate to be. </p>
<p>We haven’t acquired sheets, towels, etc. yet. Maybe having overdone it the summer before D1 went off to college, I’m taking the opposite tack this summer. Either that, or it’s sheer denial; which, as someone once put it, is a primitive coping mechanism – but it works.</p>
<p>If you’d like to wallow in a few seconds of gut-wrenching misery, think if we were parents 150 years ago, and our children were about to join a wagon train to go out west…many of those parents would never see their children again, some would never even knew if their kids arrived safely. </p>
<p>My German great great grandparents put their sons, ages 14 and 16, on a ship to the US. I don’t think the brothers ever saw their parents again, but other siblings joined them later.</p>
<p>Love it! and D would, too. Funny thing we were in Walmart this AM and didn’t see this. Probably would have bought it if we had.</p>
<p>We still have 3 weeks to go, but it’s starting to hit me. I had one of “those moments”.I was driving past the high school and saw the cross country team running and automatically scanned them looking for D’s best friend, then realized, no more. You know it’s bad when it’s not even your kid!</p>
<p>D is spending every minute she can with her friends. We will all be going to the midwest to visit family before she leaves, so that will be our time with her.</p>
<p>Oh, you’re so right. For those of us who still have kids at the same high school, it will be odd to not see kids from the activities your child wasn’t in - different drum major in the band, different drill team captain…</p>
<p>I cannot imagine putting my kid on a wagon train! Then again, even though I went to boarding school, the thought of sending my kids away so early didn’t really cross my mind. I will admit however that youngest D has asked if we’d consider it. I suppose she has no interest in being an “only” child and looks at it more like being left behind!</p>
<p>I also cannot imagine our not spending so much time at the fields in the fall. D decided not to play soccer this year but worse is football – I’ve been watching my kid play football since he was in the fourth grade!! I will go to a game or two, but will I truly care? No.</p>
<p>School released college choices for S’s class and actually I am pretty impressed (and absolutely shocked at a few, as in thinking, “Who knew?” :-). Class size=125. 13 headed to the Ivy league and over half the class going to schools ranked in the top 25 of the USNWR (liberal arts and National Univeristies). And truthfully, those NOT on that list are quite a few from that Colleges that Change Lives book. Hugely proud of the whole group of them and realize too that despite the panic and fear of last spring, it all works out pretty well in the end.</p>
<p>Oh! Son actually exchanged some info with roommate who did attend boarding school. So son thinks he’s handing me a lightbulb when he says he needs a lamp, a rug and a fridge. Please. This is going to be a long two weeks.</p>
<p>Micro-fridge ordered this morning. One more thing to check off.</p>
<p>Told S and D that they week before they leave is their week and we will eat their favorites every night. Luckily they don’t leave in the same week. S will leave on the 20th and D on the 31st. H said if they get weeks then he wants one when they are gone with all new recipes every night. Why does that sound so much harder than what they are asking for?</p>
<p>I honestly don’t think I could cook every night of the week for two weeks AND come up with something different. Seriously. Restaurant and Take-out would be on my kids’ favorites lists!</p>
<p>I really need to learn how to cook… actually, it’s more a need to menu plan AND stock a pantry. At 48 I am thinking I am on the downward slope of this particular graph.</p>
<p>Modadunn, my son’s biggest complaint is that the pantry is stocked…with ingredients. But there’s nothing to EAT. We’ve been doing the “last time” thing at the kids’ favorite restaurants for a few weeks now…truth be told I’ve had enough Thai food to last me until they come home on break. I’m looking forward to food I like–either that or cereal every night!</p>
<p>Count me in as being glad the big kids leave at different times, because while their favorite restaurants are the same, their favorite at-home dinners are quite different. So we’re doing lots of D’s favorites this week (next week she’ll be on the oral surgery diet, alas).</p>
<p>It is definitely true that when I’m reaching for silver linings, one that I think of first is the fact that menu planning will be easier with S1 gone. Some of H’s and my favorites will be in much more frequent rotation. (S2 eats almost anything, thank goodness.)</p>
<p>D2 just had wisdom teeth out, so we’ve been eating pastas, risottos, etc., for several nights; luckily, these are also among the girls’ favorite meals, so that works out pretty well. Otherwise, the favorites are mostly fresh fruit, vegetables, salads; not sure how D2 will fare on cafeteria food …</p>