<p>Oh I know, Harriet. The 2 leaders were giving the girls the BIGGEST hugs goodbye. Such terrific women! Good for you for doing so much for “your” girls.
PS Good luck, rent. Such a difficult time to take care of yourself and your DS.</p>
<p>Agreed Harriet… no car needed. Plus, they have access to ZIP cars even at 18 and so that just makes a lot more sense all around. But I think it’s going to be weird for him to actually have to hand over the key… remove his keychain, etc.</p>
<p>Tonight was the big Goodbye Class of 2009 party at one of the big parks where they had senior skip day. Son is missing it. 
Why couldn’t they leave tomorrow? Ok. off to pick up younger D from drivers ed because I forgot to wake her up to go to the morning class. To put all of this in perspective, she took a quiz at Friday’s class. The question was what does Blind X’ing mean. She actually said, a blind person was crossing the road. Thank goodness spring is a long, long way off!!!</p>
<p>Our one and only leaves next Thursday. I cried over the weekend when I washed her new towels and washcloths. Today I washed them a 2nd time because I didn’t think they “smelled” good enough. Boy, I am going to have a rough time.</p>
<p>Well, D is moved in. We had a great trip to the school. Everything went amazingly smoothly. I got a little teary eyed as we were leaving the house – but all has been well since. The biggest concern D had was that she had too much stuff and was going to seem like a spoiled American to her Chinese roommate. That was made worse when we got to the dorm and her room mate had already moved in (international orientation was last week) and there was NOTHING in the room. She came with her toothbrush and two changes of clothes I swear. D started obsessing again about all of her stuff – but I convinced her that once we got the boxes unpacked it would be fine since half the boxes were her bedding! And it was true – we got everything unpacked, everything fit and it didn’t seem overwhelming. She was very happy with the more sentimental stuff she brought – as soon as she set those items up on her shelves she was happy as could be. Then went shopping to finishing getting the last stuff that we couldn’t pack. All in all, couldn’t be happier with the result so far. Tomorrow a day full of orientation meetings – then parents are excused after a picnic dinner. Maybe a few tears then. But I think we are going to be OK.</p>
<p>OHH… that’s what I’ve been meaning to ask… sentimental stuff. What kind of “sentimental stuff” do boys take? He has pictures of him and his friends. Sister wants to give him a framed photo of the three siblings. I’d have to go back a few years for a family photo since all the grad ones - i looked completely exhausted!</p>
<p>She actually didn’t take any pictures – has lots of those digital on her computer. But she took a special tea pot and tea cup that she loves, a little framed needlepoint her aunt gave her, a ceramic owl her grandma gave her for good luck, a beauty and the beast jewelry box (believe it or not) . . . more homey knick-knacks. She set up them on her shelf right above her desk and it almost looks like a little shrine from her home bedroom.</p>
<p>Sounds like a nice trip, IMHopeful. Hope it all goes well with the roommate.</p>
<p>As for sentimental things, Son took a framed picture of he and his GF…that’s it…none of us.</p>
<p>Congrats to all the successful launchers! I’m fortified by your reports! D & I get on the road in about 6.5 hours. She said a teary goodbye to BF, but is now bustling about finishing all the last minute stuff she put off so she could spend more time w/ said BF.</p>
<p>Bought H some new shorts/t-shirts after taking a peek into his suitcase this morning. Had to laugh when I read missypie’s post on the “Tips for Dads” thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1063107499-post115.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1063107499-post115.html</a></p>
<p>2010 parent here. I just posted this on our thread, but it occurred to my y’all either have already had the experience or at least put some thought into this.</p>
<p>Did you take younger siblings with you when you dropped your college freshman off?</p>
<p>Tonight ds2 and I were riding with another mom and were talking about sending kids off to college. Ds2 was shocked that his good friend is spending the night in town with a friend and going to football practice while his parents took their freshman dd to LSU. I told him that he probably wouldn’t accompany us to take his brother to college next year, and he seemed surprised and hurt, saying he wouldn’t get to see him for a whole year (ahh, the hyperbole of youth!).</p>
<p>I really want MY time with ds1 at that time. Am I horrible to not include his little brother?</p>
<p>We’re not bringing 16 y.o. S to drop off D. There’s two days of parent orientation activities that would bore him senseless. The dorm rooms are so small the addition of another person would be a nightmare. He might be useful for some lifting and moving, but he’s not really interested in being gone for 5 day right before he goes back to school.</p>
<p>Nope. Read Dad’s thread about the miserable siblings. Take him with you for parents weekend. Then he gets out of the heavy lifting as well.</p>
<p>Harriet… I totally smiled when I read your D’s “things.” My older D was a semi- closeted disney princess freak back when she started college. Those were the early days of ebay as well. She had a particular love for Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. I sent her a bank and a poster for some hugely ridiculous sum in postage!</p>
<p>I think it’s fine to not include younger brother if he’s not interested in going.
We’re taking our younger daughter because she’s just two years younger and might be interested in the same school.
Plus, we hadn’t visited the school before dd1 was accepted, and she went alone to the accepted student event, so we all want to get a visual image of the school.</p>
<p>to centraleagle: yes, you guessed it! My daughter is going to FOOT, but a 4 day trip, because she is working through Friday at her internship. I’m so glad she’ll have that opportunity.</p>
<p>to missypie: forced togetherness with strangers is not my cup of tea, either. I understand intellectually the value of team-building type activities, but that doesn’t mean I find them comfortable!</p>
<p>Good luck Chintzy!!!</p>
<p>Imhopeful… have a good time at all the orientation stuff. Will be checking H’s suitcase before we go, so … take notes! :-)</p>
<p>I am not in the class of 2013 but might as well be in that I am moving in two weeks to attend a university the first time and live on campus, so I hope this isn’t an intrusion but I was really intrigued by the line of conversation here about bringing siblings to move in. My parents want to bring my 16 year old sister AND her boyfriend to move in day for no explicable reason-- she has no real desire to even come and will probably complain the whole way about getting up early and being hot. Her lack of interest in going is their reason for inviting her boyfriend. We live 20 minutes away and they’ll be back in a few hours before she would even wake up. That means I will have FIVE people, six counting me, and even though my roommate won’t be coming that day that’s still REALLY too much and all the extraneous people are just going to stress me out. Nobody needs to be there but me, mom, dad, and my boyfriend (we needed some extra muscle). How can I explain that to my parents without them thinking that I am just trying to be hurtful to my sister? I know if I try to say that I don’t think they should come my mom is going to jump to sister’s defense and insist that I am just being coldhearted and mean, but that’s really not the point.</p>
<p>TK–give it up–let it go. I understand that you will have enough on your plate and agree with you about the younger sis/BF. You could ask your sis if she really wants to go or if she and BF might want to visit on their own another time-- but it sounds like you know your parents have an idea about dropping you off and it may just be easier to take some deep breaths and let it happen. And be sure to ask to go to some nice restaurant that night or the night before…And do have fun this year and good luck to your new experience!!!</p>
<p>It is also just fine NOT to drive the kid to school. </p>
<p>DD is delighted that she is getting on the airplane by herself with two suitcases and a backpack. We are dropping her off at the airport and will join the oldsters and visit on Parents Day weekend. Two boxes, mainly of bedding, are being shipped, and a box of books. </p>
<p>This is okay and normal.</p>
<p>Just in case there’s anybody else out there that’s wondering that.</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll slip sister and her boyfriend a $20 and send them out to breakfast someplace in town while everyone else helps me move in. That might make everybody happy. There’s a nice cafe right on the corner that they’ll love, and it has AC.</p>
<p>seriously–that is a good idea. Again, try to problem solve to make it OK for you while letting your parents do it mostly their way. Just saying this as you sound like you already know how it will go–so just change the little that you can --and your idea of the $20 is perfect!</p>
<p>They are close. But, yes, it does come down to money to some extent and would be heavily dependent on which college ds1 chooses. If it’s his in-state no. 1 choice, then I’d be happy to include ds2 on the drive. He could stay with his aunt and uncle for part of the time and go on campus with us for part of the time. But if he ends up at one of the far-flung options – well, I just don’t know.</p>
<p>The thought of sending him off on a plane by himself makes me tear up, but it might be a real possibility.</p>