<p>boysx3 - ah, so your recent visit to DC was well timed. I hope that sad feeling lifts at some point - I anticipate feeling much the same way when both girls are gone.</p>
<p>funny thing - reading your words, I am getting a preview of my life in a few years. we are also from central Ohio and contemplating a move to Chicago after D2 (HS class of 12) goes to college. H’s family is there and some college friends, but I do worry about building a new life in a new place without the girls.</p>
<p>missypie, I sailed through the graduation, packing, and even drop off day (much to my surprise) dry-eyed. Then last week I’m rounding up unused clothes for a charity drive and hit the mother-load in DS’s closet: Soccer socks of every imaginable color ('cause you never know when they’ll need the same color), all-star jerseys and tournament uniforms from various youth sports that I envisioned putting together in a quilt (like that’s gonna happen), tiny little mittens for trips to the snow… I lost it. Blubbered like a baby. Misting up now just thinking about it.</p>
<p>By chance, I hit this thread shortly after posting on the HS Homecoming thread, so I know that your emotions are legitimate.</p>
<p>D’s school was offering flu vaccines this week - was supposed to be for four days and they ran out on day 1! Of course, she didn’t get one and called tonight to tell me she’s getting a sore throat - is that a precursor to one of these flu’s? She came home last weekend to get away from the hacking sick people and because her skin was starting to get raw from using hand sanitizer multiple times/day! Guess I’ll throw together a little care pack for tomorrow’s mail, just in case. She has tons of soup, tissues, meds, food that I sent her with and they have a CVS on campus and a convenience store in her dorm, but I just feel the need to DO something when my kid is sick! Wonder if that ever goes away?</p>
<p>^Probably not! Its such a mom thing. likely she just has a cold - both of mine have had cold/sore throat things with low grade fever…mostly from getting back to school and overdoing it! They both recovered in a couple of days. I guess I would send your D. hand lotion! </p>
<p>SocalGal09 - you just might make that quilt. I actually do quilt, and I’ve saved many T shirts from skating competitions for my 2 Ds. One day…I will surprise them. You can, too!</p>
<p>Speedy and full recovery wishes to NM and #tmson!</p>
<p>Love the quarters story! S has asked me to send him a new computer mouse. What, they don’t sell them at the bookstore or in town?? I asked him to check there first and let me know; no answer so far to my query.</p>
<p>boysx3, thanks for sharing your lovely visit with us! So the parenting gig was worthwhile, hmmm? Good to know! :)</p>
<p>S never calls; we Skyped once, but that’s been it. I know he has a landline phone in his room – cell reception at his school is extremely poor/nonexistent – but he has not graced me with this knowledge yet! (One of his high school friends also goes to his school and lives down the hall from him; that friend’s mom told me her kid had called her from my kid’s room, on the landline, which is how I know about it!)</p>
<p>He has been emailing a little, but only for things or to answer my questions and get his NMF application off. His dad has gotten one, only ONE, email from him, and is hurt and annoyed by this, of course. I’ve told the kid to email his dad; don’t know whether he will, but the boy is going to get a Come to Jesus talk (heathens, all of us, but still…!) when he is home over Columbus Day about calling home. </p>
<p>I learn more about what my kid is up to from his friend’s mom than I do from my kid. Spawn doesn’t yet have a work-study job (so kiddo, no, I’m not going to send you a bunch of stuff you should be buying for yourself – sorry!), is making it to classes, and the only way I know Spawn has a social life is that he complained online about “making out with a girl who needed a breath mint.” Obviously, we need to have a little talk about grace!</p>
<p>PRJ, S2 has the same quarters issue! I mailed them (with his yearbook and something else I can’t remember…)last week as well. Theremust be some kind of quarters-mafia in Ohio! #TM, I hope he’s better soon. Have a friend whose daughter at Stanford has the flu, and has been told to stay in her room, poor thing.</p>
<p>NM, you’re doing great! You’ll be ready for holiday shopping before you know it, if that’s a good thing…</p>
<p>S2 comes home for fall break in 14 days. 
We’re not doing either boy’s Parent’s weekend, as we’re bringing them home for Thanksgiving, and we’re waiting to visit S2 when he has a performance. S1 is going to spain in the Spring, so we’re saving the money. Plus, we never “do” any of the PW activities, so its more fun to visit when we can actually stay close to campus.</p>
<p>Well, as expected the TB scare was a false alarm. CBBB, your daughter is clearly a better diagnostician! Instead, I got a call from her this morning that she was going to have her ankle x-rayed because she rolled it last night. When I asked her how it happened, she said “skipping”. Student Health gave her some crutches and a referral. Fortunately, it’s just a bad sprain, no break.</p>
<p>I have spent the afternoon reading the posts since mid August and feel in great company! My son is an international freshman student hailing from Zimbabwe, but his Dad (a Brit) lives fairly close to the private East Coast liberal arts college he attends. My S has travelled to be with his D annually since he was a little fellow, and is familiar with US culture. He completed his International Baccalaureate in Zim, played first team field hockey, received his drama honours at HS. An all rounder who loved the idea of a liberal arts college as he could experiment with subjects on the arts side. Nothing like that available in Africa or the UK. We struggled through the college app process, but all’s well that ends well, lets not linger there! He is a good looking independent white kid - many comments about how he managed to come from Africa and manage that! He is my only child although I have older stepchildren, and I am bereft at the thought of him making his way in the US and not coming home more than once a year for a couple of weeks…we have always been pretty close. Since being at college I have hardly heard from him - the Education Advisor at the US embassy tells me this is good…his D who is a good friend to me, hears from him sporadically, and saw him for one day of recent Family weekend. His advisor told his D he is scoring As, his level of education is excellent, and all is good. D says he looks great and seems very contented. I see from FB he has a new beautiful blonde GF - on a rare FB chat (our bandwidth is not great for video or phone calls)he says the GF is supercool, from Albany, and a Christian (which he is too). He is in a quad dorm, and seems to be very happy and contented. So if all the news is good, why do I feel so ineffably sad? He will be 20 in December - (our kids stay at school a year longer and our school year runs Jan - Nov) Because he is so far away, and so sensible, I have not really laid down the law about comms. Like owlice I have a special speech waiting for him at Christmas when he will be home! I need encouragement and possibly some US chocolate!!!</p>
<p>:: hands Zimcollegemom two huge Ghirardelli chocolate bars, one milk, one dark ::</p>
<p>Better that than Hershey’s!!</p>
<p>(Okay, there are Hershey’s kisses on the buffet table if you’re really hankering for Hershey’s! I’ll never forget how my younger brother wrote home from our boarding school in Switzerland to ask our mother to send Hershey’s chocolate. We were in the Land of Fabulous Chocolate, and he’s asking for Hershey’s?!?! :eek:)</p>
<p>Welcome!</p>
<p>You’re sad because you miss him, of course! You have done your job well – you have raised him to be independent. Sucks, doesn’t it? </p>
<p>:D </p>
<p>No, it doesn’t really. It’s a change, and change can be hard.</p>
<p>Try friending him on Facebook, and tell him it’s because he never calls, he never writes, and you need some reassurance that he’s still alive SOMEhow! If that doesn’t scare him into writing, I don’t know what will!!</p>
<p>Welcome Zim
The reality that he has gone so far away and is happy there would make anyone sad on top of their pride. You did your job well. The sadness comes with the territory{{{{hugs}}}}</p>
<p>Welcome Zim. Sounds like you did a great job. It’s really difficult to make the adjustment to having them grown. He sound like a great S. Perhaps if you let him know how much you miss him he would communicate with you on a more regular time. Try setting up a special time for the 2 of you to chat however it works for the two of you (phone, IM, etc). He may enjoy it as much as you would.</p>
<p>More words of welcome, Zim. It does sound like you’ve done a great job, and part of that good work was letting him go so far away to school. (A topic for another day, but I am constantly amazed at the parents I know who won’t let their kids leave the state, let alone the country…)</p>
<p>He may miss you more than he lets on, if not now, maybe in a few more weeks when the newness has worn off. And I think letting him know that this is hard for you is a good idea.</p>
<p>Of course, nothing I can say will help as much as owlice’s chocolate 
Keep posting and we’ll keep the advice (and the chocolate) coming.</p>
<h1>Theorymom – Re the blue reference and silver: the disease Argyria is caused by prolonged exposure to high volumes of silver dust/or seriously high volumes of colloidal ingestion if mixed with a protein – eg. possible if working in mining setting etc. Taking colloidal silver is like, 20 ppm (as opposed the the 4 GRAMS that can cause Argyria). By comparison, the guy the story was about last year was adding chloride to his and making his own (ionizing it) – and ingesting ridiculous amounts daily for a prolonged period of time.</h1>
<p>That said, if a kid isn’t familiar with how important it is to take caution using it then I wouldn’t mess with it either (re other poster’s point). (Have also heard good things about airborn, as another poster mentioned).</p>
<p>At any rate, the brand I found that doesn’t have the proteins and that is pure is called Mesosilver, available at PurestColloids (dot com). Note I have no interest in promoting this co. and no stake in same so I share this only as anecdotal endorsement per my son : ). Hopefully by now he’s turning a corner anyway. Sorry I didn’t respond earlier.
Cheers all.
K</p>
<p>Zimcollegemom - sending you a big hug and I’d send chocolate if I could. You’re feeling sad b/c although he sounds like a wonderful, intelligent young man you miss the heck out of him…like we all do. Its normal. Doesn’t matter that he is doing so well…he is still a long way away. Keep posting with us. We’re all in this together.</p>
<p>I’m thinking my S is hanging w/ Owlice’s S. I get maybe a few more calls or text messages (such as tonight’s "You should have come down for parent’s weekend, best weather yet!) as I sit in the rainy east… UGH! and also, no job yet… which I did point out on our last phone call - his response: “I haven’t been here that long” - hello… it’s been six weeks darling child!!! Told him I hope he’s enjoying his time there because when the December bill come for semester #2, he’ll be sad he can’t pay it. CLUELESS… ok, I must admit that two of those weeks were taken up with H1N1 and double ear infections but… </p>
<p>And still, I was weepy today. Feeling I should have gone down to TN to visit this weekend. Once a mom, always a mom. :)</p>
<h1>theoryboy has turned the corner and should be back to class on Monday. ONE FULL WEEK of missed classes. And finals coming up. I am beside myself with consternation. I asked him if he was able to get any of his class work done and how he was going to do and his answer was “I’ll be fine”</h1>
<p>This has been his mantra all his life and ESPECIALLY when things are not going well. I am trying to believe him. I hope I will get a better feel for how he is doing when he comes home at the end of the term.
sigh
Timing of this illness sucks</p>
<p>Thankyou for the kind words and the fab imported chocs! - isnt a virtual community a cool support system she says stating the obvious…am sitting with laptop prior to setting out for the annual fair day at S’s HS eek. Will be great to see all the folk and good to be able to tell them that S doing well, but bittersweet as the memories come flooding back. Not being from the US I am asking - will it be ok for me to email S’s advisor and ask for his lecturers email addresses to ask for update on S’s academics? Small college - 700 freshmen and I am not a person to bother busy profs with endless questions, but S is lifelong procrastinator …</p>
<p>Zim. I would say generally, no that is not OK. Though we are ALL dying to do it.</p>
<p>Zim - also, if he’s now 18, they are not legally allowed to discuss his record/transcript etc. with you unless he’s given written permission – just one of many reason’s why it’s time to let our freshmen fly solo and pray they don’t crash into the andes : ).</p>
<p>So take a very deep breath and know that you son will be exactly who he is becomming, that you’ve given him everything it takes to succeed, keep the lines open in case he needs support, and tell yourself he is the master of his destiny now : ) Some days that works!
Best wishes.
K</p>
<p>Zim, you can get your son to sign a waiver of the FERPA and HIPPA privacy requirements (that would govern academics and health respectively). My son has signed these and we’ve given them to the school. Even then, I personally wouldn’t think of asking for regular reporting (just semester grades). I’ve done this because I want the school to feel free to tell me that a problem may be developing rather than waiting until a crisis has arisen and they now feel compelled to call. </p>
<p>Our first four weeks of evidence suggests that I will hear a lot from my son and won’t need the school on the academic side of things. Because of his learning disabilities, he has been calling to for help on logistical stuff or if he can dictate a couple of emails to me now that I’m on the phone. [He does use speech recognition technology but prefers real people when he is tired]. In the cracks of those calls, I ask about how the test went, social life, etc. and get little bits of information.</p>
<p>He caught a cold and now is very tired and trying to cope with a couple of exams and a paper. This worries us as fatigue was one of his problems in the past. Maybe we should see if, as boysx3 (I think) suggested, the Hillel has a chicken soup delivery service, though the school is so small that I don’t know how large the Hillel actually is.</p>