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Nicely said! I am with you.
Saw S changed his current city to his college town in FB. (sniff) Still can’t believe S has his own life now.</p>
<p>**The next new student move-in is Trinity College, Boston University (FYSOP), and Columbia University move-ins on August 29th - today!
Move-in day is TODAY! Where did the summer go? :eek:
[ul][<em>]Tufts and Williams College move-ins on August 31st are just 2 day to go.
[</em>]University of Pennsylvania and Hampshire College move-ins on September 1st are just 3 days to go.
[<em>]St. Olaf College, Bates College, Princeton University (Outdoor Action), and Brown University move-ins on September 3rd are just 5 days to go.
[</em>]Queen’s University move-in on September 4th is just 6 days to go.[/ul]</p>
<p>The last new student move-ins are the University of Oregon and the University of Southern Oregon on September 22nd
Move-in day in 25 days. Less than 4 weeks to go for the final move-ins.</p>
<p>The link to the Move-in Date Thread is <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1141579-hs-class-2011-college-class-2015-move-dates-5.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1141579-hs-class-2011-college-class-2015-move-dates-5.html</a></p>
<p>If you son’s or daughter’s move-in dates and schools are not listed please add them to the list.**</p>
<p>kathiep: So sorry about the watery mess. Maybe you get to pick out new carpeting??</p>
<p>An empty nest story to share: My husband and I didn’t really have any time in our early marriage with just the two of us. Our older son was born 9 months and 19 days after we were married and for much of that time, my husband was traveling overseas for the Air Force. So, this is truly a new beginning for us. To launch our new empty nest era, we did something last night we had not done since we were dating…(Get your minds out of the gutter, now.)</p>
<p>We rode his motorcycle to a smaller town about 15 miles from here for dinner. It’s a 1973 BMW 750 that he bought as a bachelor. For the first 17 years that we lived in this house, it sat in the garage in need of repair. Last year, for his 50th, I had it restored. This year for my birthday, he bought me a new helmet. And four months after my birthday, we finally rode it together. It’s a little tighter fit with the two of us than it was in 1987 when we met, but it was still fun and I think to him, a symbol that “just the two of us” would by an okay thing.</p>
<p>That’s a great story,OWM! :)</p>
<p>OWM- love it!</p>
<p>Fogfog- my D’s room condition is similar to your S’s. She left a number of things behind-particularly her winter gear which she won’t need for a while. I moved her stuff to get to the layer of dust underneath-but I will otherwise leave it intact for when she comes home. After this weekend when she’ll be home for family wedding, I am not expecting her home until Thanksgiving. (We will drive to college 1 Sat each month for home FB games, though)</p>
<p>It’s funny- last year, Thanksgiving had such a stress-filled connotation in the context of getting essays & apps done before Turkey day arrived (that ominous phrase “if you can smell the turkey…” comes to mind) This year, for many of us, Thanksgiving is something to look forward to-a happy time when we’ll see our lanched kids again :)</p>
<p>During the storm yesterday, D called to tell us that her foot hurt. She thinks she hurt it playing field hockey without her foot guards. She went to the trainer today, and she is currently at the ER getting x-rays. H and I are going to meet her at the campus and bring her crutches and anything else she needs, and take her and her bf out for dinner. I am sure that she is fine without us, but this is one time when I am glad we only live 45 minutes away.</p>
<p>OWM - Reading your post with tears in my eyes… the BMW motorcycle I bought Bluedad for father’s dad several years ago was just sold to help pay for tuition. It was a very, very hard decision. It was terribly poetic as his first motorcycle was sold right before Bluejr was born because he just didn’t have time to ride it anymore (second child…buying first house). Symbolically our first date was on that bike, and my first gift from Bluedad was my own helmet…$200 back in 1989 was nothing to sneeze at. I knew he was serious. :)</p>
<p>Cheers to you and OWD!! I hope you get a chance to enjoy many, many long, lazy, snuggly, rides on the BMW bike!!! :)</p>
<p>OWM, love the story.</p>
<p>Mommylaw, Yes we had the …get the apps done before we smell the turkey…in our house as well.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving will be the first time we see kiddo from the past weekends move in…</p>
<p>Got a PM on my Fb from kiddo–reconsidering some courses etc. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. May take a for language this term. may change a level in physics. Feels comfortable with the math…
DH and I are not giving advice re courses, levels of rigor etc…there is no way we can advise kiddo–We are glad to hand that off to the U’s adademic deans, advisors etc. The frosh have several layers of help dorm-wise, academically etc…</p>
<p>At least w the message I know kiddo is working through the process…</p>
<p>With all of the fun activites they have planned for the frosh, plus orientation and sport commitments–I hope kiddo is sleeping enough! :D</p>
<p>Sunnydayfun, Our student changed city/location the day we arrived on campus. Sniff, sniff. I hear you about how they have their own lives somewhere else now…</p>
<p>Hi everyone!</p>
<p>Great to hear about all the successful Irene launches. Kudos to all of you who added this unexpected stress to the normal move-in load. Whew! </p>
<p>Reminds me of the year of Katrina (6 years ago!) when a family we know had just taken their DD to Tulane from SoCal. No sooner had they returned home than Katrina hit and DD moved back home–college closed for the semester. Talk about Freshman shock! This girl spent that first semester at UCLA (how weird it must have been for Tulane’s entire class of freshmen–not in the schools, dorm rooms, sports teams, activities they had been anticipating!) and then returned to Tulane for the rest of her college. So many of those Katrina frosh returned–which goes to show how committed many were, even when emergency-admitted to other U’s–some more well known or highly ranked! I often wondered what my kids would do in that situation (their college suddenly closed before fall semester of freshman year), and I can see how they would want to make it back to the original campus. </p>
<p>Like many of you, I’m dealing with the quiet of the empty nest and find have taken on some relatively large new projects just to keep busy. For fun, I decided to read the “Game of Thrones” series of novels by George R.R. Martin (just loved the series on HBO) and I think I read almost 5000 (yes 5 thousand) pages to catch up to the series. Very engrossing–just what I needed to get my thoughts from obsessing about S2 and his first weeks at college. :)</p>
<p>Anyone else have a favorite escape to help in the transition? I know when S1 left, I had much catching up to do with S2. He’d been without attention for a looong time. Now, however, it’s a whole new world. EmmyBet, other empty-nesters–whatcha doing?</p>
<p>madbean ~ your post is very timely for me as my d is a freshman at Tulane, today was her first day of classes, exactly on the 6th anniversary of Katrina!</p>
<p>I’m way behind; just wanted to check in. Vermont was nailed by flooding in Irene’s wake, but we’re ok here. Will catch up sometime :)</p>
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<p>I have a volunteer orientation for Ronald McDonald House next Thursday. I told them I’d be willing to work weekends - no more sports or driving commitments, so I’ll certainly be available. I was going to start taking classes, but would you believe I missed the application deadline?! :o</p>
<p>madbean, when we drop off ShawD, I’m flying to London and then Stockholm for work. ShawWife doesn’t want to head back to an empty nest and is going to visit her sister and then has invited several artist colleagues/friends to our house in Quebec. She’s going to do art – she has a new kind of project that she’s started (though actually it would seem better to do it at her studio at home, but OK). But, it’s on a pretty lake in a community she loves. I’ll return home before her.</p>
<p>For my empty nest activity, I’m going to see if I can push myself to actually write the book I plan to write on thinking about career choices. It’s a bit of a pro bono project. It began as a speech I was asked to give years at a business school ago and I got a very powerful reaction – some people loved it (“most valuable single thing in two years at B school”) and others hated it. Over the years, ShawWife has volunteered me to give career advice many times and people seem to find the advice very helpful. So, she has urged me to write this book. Although it has nothing to do with work (I have written a couple of books in my field), this one would just be a pro bono activity. I do allot time for pro bono engagements and would try to consider this one of those, but writing a book requires a lot more discipline.</p>
<p>bajamm–my S2 thought Tulane was terrific. Hope your D has a wonderful 4 years there.</p>
<p>scoutsmom–how wonderful that you are able to volunteer. </p>
<p>shawbridge–best of luck on writing your book. The quiet in the house may help. I also write, but fiction. However, that’s my job and I need to escape it sometimes. I also teach, but I guess my kids have been sort of an all-encompassing “story” for the past 22 years, so now I’m looking for some extra activities.</p>
<p>Love to hear all your different plans.</p>
<p>Hope Vermont dries out soon!</p>
<p>OWM - Funny story - MY husband has a 1975 Triumph Trident MC that he’s had for 30 years (he was a second owner) he rode it once in awhile for the first ten years of our marriage, but then we lived in crowded areas until 13 years ago when we moved here. He got it up and running and for the past three years uses it quite often to go to and from work. All country roads, no lights, perfect for a MC. Last year for the first time in 27 years, I took a ride with him and asked for a helmet for my birthday in the fall. He got it for me, but the time never seemed right for another twosome ride. Finally, this July for our 33rd anniversary we took it out to go to a diner about 15 miles away for breakfast.</p>
<p>I love that in this stage of our marriages, that a MC ride is indeed special.</p>
<p>With my upcoming empty(er) nest in mind, I’ve taken up running and am training for a 5 K run/walk on October 1st with a couple of friends. Our goal is to make it to the end without walking (although deep down we are kind of hoping to finish in 30 minutes). I do lots of walking, but I’ve never run before. I know I couldn’t do it without company; I would definitely call it quits after a couple of blocks. We meet at 6:30 am three days a week, and I run myself on the 4th. Not really hard core training, but it’s nice to have a “project” to keep myself distracted. I will still have my S at home, but since I’m a single mom it will be just the two of us, and it’s a really huge difference with D not here.</p>
<p>Way to go cooker!!! That’s an awesome goal! Good for you. That’s so great that you have friends to work towards your goal with!! :)</p>
<p>OMW and kathiep, I’m also looking forward to a little empty-nest motorcycling once DS is launched and we begin adjusting to being just a twosome again. We met at a motorcycle shop and rode together quite a lot before DS came along. He’s a Triumph guy from way back; he has a T100 Bonneville currently and I have a Suzuki GS500. I’m foreseeing weekend rides…maybe an overnight at a B&B…definitely some delicious meals!</p>
<p>Maybe this empty nest thing will be OK after all. ;-)</p>
<p>An earthquake, a hurricane, a flood, a fire (drill?) in our hotel!! Are these part of the plagues associated with the Passover Seder? Today was so crazy. When we tried to get to our friend’s house in Livingston, all the roads were impassable so we continued to our next stop in Philly. Tomorrow DC.</p>
<p>Loved your stories BI and OWM.</p>
<p>mad bean - our e/ n will be filled with travel, friends, family, caring for aging parents, renovating one office, two bathrooms and two guest rooms.</p>
<p>For those of us that have kids in a Northern climate where a bowl of chicken noodle soup is the first line of defense against a cold, here’s a fun groupon deal from Midland/Odessa [Spoonful</a> of Comfort Deal of the Day | Groupon Midland / Odessa](<a href=“http://www.groupon.com/deals/spoonful-of-comfort-midland-1?utm_medium=afl&utm_campaign=4153650&utm_source=rvs]Spoonful”>http://www.groupon.com/deals/spoonful-of-comfort-midland-1?utm_medium=afl&utm_campaign=4153650&utm_source=rvs)
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<p>I would like someone to send this to me! Got one for my new college freshman when it was offered before. Too bad my grad student is vegetarian or I would get this for her.</p>
<p>hey MathmomVT - We just read that Burlington was evacuated! Son didn’t mention anything like that (not that we’ve heard much from him) but I was wondering if we should have been worried!</p>