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<p>I have visited that thread a few times as well and you are right - it is so nice to have that behind us! The 2012 parents sound so much more stressed that this group was last year. If anyone on this year’s thread hasn’t visited, go have a look. It will make this year’s issues and problems seem pretty insignificant by comparison.</p>
<p>So very interesting. This is exactly how I felt last year when I had just done it with S1 '10 and had to do it again with S2 '11. No offense but you guys sounded so tensed to me…
I guess there is something to be said about going through it for the first time. :)</p>
<p>All we can offer is support :D</p>
<p>Yes, as a second-timer, I’d agree we were right about on the mark … it’s just how it is.</p>
<p>I visit the College 2014s, just for a look ahead. In many ways that one also is reassuring, since it reminds me that college is just college and not some magic secret that other people somehow know. Ups and downs will continue. Although sometimes I find that hard, because I still WISH there was a magic secret!</p>
<p>Another chat today with D - about managing her long-distance relationship (so hard), getting connected and building a life in college (hard for her), and other things. They have a hard time when they don’t have enough to do; this weekend is quiet, so she’s not doing as well as last weekend. Plus she’s nostalgic because of the HS play going on. All stuff she has to and will get over. </p>
<p>D1 is enjoying her internship but exhausted after 3 days of wading through waist-high marshes collecting samples. I think she might end up studying prairie life - much less tiring to walk around in!</p>
<p>EmmyBet - so sorry to hear about your DD roomie problems. Definitely tough when your nest isn’t comfy.</p>
<p>We are sitting in the Tel Aviv airport with two hours to go before we board for our 15 hours or so of flying. It is daylight savings in Israel tonight so that confuses the calculation even more. We haven’t boarded and my ankles are already swollen. Drat!! We are looking forward to being home in our own bed. I want to see my mom and make sure she’s really ok.</p>
<p>KinderNY - So glad to hear that there are other beaglers out there! The sport has been a major part of our lives for the last 25 years, and our and several other packs have been part of the “village” it took to raise our D. </p>
<p>Glad to hear that so many of you are already having visits with your students. Right now, we’re just trying to get a phone call!</p>
<p>Emilybee - sorry to hear about your necklace. We had our back door kicked in a couple of years ago, and I lost most of my jewelry. Some of the things were replaceable, but I will never be able to replace many things like the black pearl earrings we bought on our last trip to French Polynesia, or the bracelet made of gold and my dearly-beloved first horse’s tail hair. I learned from this the importance of separately scheduling jewelry over a certain price per item - the total did not come close to covering what I lost.</p>
<p>AvonHSDad - Can’t imagine who you were talking about when you said “The 2012 parents sound so much more stressed that this group was last year” - certainly not me!</p>
<p>Yay Avon…
Our Turkey Day countdown…</p>
<p>I was thinking about this last night–will be first and only time our kiddo is home til the end of the semester/holiday break in Dec.
We aren’t going to Parents weekend.</p>
<p>Freeport was fun until it started pouring and naturally I left the umbrella in the car. Bought BC a down coat at LL Bean. If you have never been, it’s like Disney World for the outdoor sportsperson. And like NYC, it never sleeps. Remarkably we ran into BC’s roommate, parents and sister there. Lovely people and I’m glad we bumped into them as we haven’t gone up to his dorm room except for when we first got here.</p>
<p>Freeport is lovely and we walked around window shopping - had delicious bowl of clam chowder for a late lunch, then headed back to drop BC off as he was getting tired and cranky. BTW, Lewiston is a dump - BC tweeted last night that in the last week he’s eaten at the two best restaurants in town and now has nothing to look forward to. </p>
<p>Picking him up around 7:30 and going to a pub that’s right on the river. Then we’ll say our goodbye’s. Won’t be for long since he is coming home for Oct. break on the 18th (I’ll pick him up after his last class) and then again for the whole week at Thanksgiving. </p>
<p>I have a few pieces I’ve insured separately but the necklace wasn’t one of them because it wasn’t worth over $1000 22 years ago. :(</p>
<p>“Has anyone visited the HS Class of 2012 thread? I thought I’d jump in and add my 2 cents, but I got so stressed reading the posts, I had to leave. I feel like I still haven’t recovered from the application process!”</p>
<p><em>Raising hand</em> I’ve forced myself not to say a word because knowing me I’d say something harsh. ;)</p>
<p>FlMathmom, wishing you a safe flight home.</p>
<p>I peeked in at the class of 2012 thread but couldn’t bear to stay long. This was quite the stressful time of year last year!</p>
<p>I also just looked at the pictures on the Shutterfly site - What a nice group of good looking people! I accidentally added an album instead of just adding pictures to my previous spot. Hope you can figure out who my son belongs to!</p>
<p>I got an interesting piece of mail today. A couple of years ago I asked to be an audience member on “The View”. I didn’t hear back and forgot all about it. Today I got a letter inviting me and three friends to go to a live show in about 10 days. I’m embarrassed to say that I probably haven’t watched the show for the last year. Hoping it’s one of those big give away shows and not something to do with babies or fashion!</p>
<p>I have peeked in their thread probably 3 times total over the last 3 months…
I made the suggestion that the kids write thank you notes for interviews…
and some parents were like…
"WHAT?! … Hand write a note…blah blah… and email is “good enough”</p>
<p>I thought-- ok…sooo don’t… (raised by wolves?)</p>
<p>My student wrote nice notes on monogrammed notecards…</p>
<p>IMHO, If someone - an alumni - takes time to meet your kid…DR/Lawyer/Chief…than the least you can do is your kids can hand write a nice note of thanks for the time…
puuullease…</p>
<p>Kathiep~Look at it as a belated birthday gift :)</p>
<p>Fog~I totally agree with all should send thank you notes, and answer PMs :)</p>
<p>just saw a picture of D on facebook, her right (writing) hand is all bandaged up. she hasn’t said a word, the picture is all I know about it… wonder what happened and why she hasn’t said? I will probably end up asking her about it but will give her time to tell me herself first.</p>
<p>Just back from a long day…</p>
<p>Skimmed posts and will reread again so I can really catch everything.</p>
<p>I did post on the 2012 forum about the time our kids launched. The members there were so warm, kind, and very appreciative of a few supportive words. I haven’t been back as I didn’t want to seem like a nosy-body and I didn’t know how many of you were able to add a few words. I think I’ll go for a visit this week. Sure it’s tense in there, it was tense in here…we got through it together!!</p>
<p>@ bajamm - You know your DD best and this is probably the best way to proceed…I would have a very difficult time staying quiet. Just by nature I would be busting, wanting to know what happened and that my kiddo had taken care of it okay. This transition is sooo hard! I admire your willpower!</p>
<p>emilybee - So glad you are having a nice visit!!! :)</p>
<p>**52 days to Thanksgiving break **</p>
<p>(Based on kids touching down at home on the Wednesday before TG. Some kids may get the full week and will land at home sooner.)</p>
<p>Emilybee - sounds like a great visit!
Bajamm - probably just a sprain and didn’t want you to worry?
Kathiep - ewww, I personally couldn’t sit through a whole taping of that show, something about them bothers me, something about the whole “we’re just a bunch of gals talking” bugs me.<br>
I am just so angry/sad this weekend. Just can’t pull out of the confluence of my parent’s would-have-been 58th anniversary tommorow, my ds telling me how he slept through the same class twice in one week and missed a quiz, and my good friend moving far away (downsizing) because of the bad economy screwing up her suburban dreams. Had a blowup last night with dd1 because as chief arbitrator in the house, I just didn’t have it in me to overlook teenage communication styles (the theme of my blowup was: there are two ways to deliver the “I don’t know” message about where your sister is when I am picking you both up - the “I don’t know and don’t give a crap about my sister or anyone else for that matter” and the “I don’t know but I bet she’s over by xyz and I’ll go look for her because she’s my sister and I care”). Ugh, who wanted kids this closely spaced? Did I for a moment think that 3 teens at once might be too much for one mother?</p>
<p>Amanda - all I can say is ((hugs)).</p>
<p>Amanda: I’m sorry you’re feeling low. I can’t imagine managing 3 teens at once. I hope you get some time for yourself today.</p>
<p>Bajamm: I’d worry too! I’m sure your daughter would have told you if it was anything serious. </p>
<p>Emmy: I’m really surprised that the school housed your D with sophomores and juniors. I’m used to schools that house the Freshmen together. It’s easier to make friends when everyone is new and looking to make new friends. It sounds like a great idea for you to visit and give her a break.</p>
<p>Aww, Amanda sounds rough. Here’s to a better week coming up!</p>
<p>Emily – nice that you are able to have a nice visit. I lived in “mixed” housing (all years together) but everyone had singles except the freshmen, who were paired in doubles with other freshmen. It seemed like a good arrangement. There are benefits to being with the upperclassmen, but it doesn’t sound like your D is in a great situation. Hope things work out and she finds a “home away from home” where she can get some peace.</p>
<p>We’re not sure if we will see our S before Thanksgiving. He decided not to come home for fall break, since the timing is awkward with Yom Kippur. We had earlier decided not to go up for parent’s weekend but try to go up a different weekend, but now we’re feeling like we might interfere with his life if we tried that. So we’re not sure. S is not coming home for T’day either – we are picking him up and going to visit relatives that he is on the way to. Which is kind of a shame as he won’t be able to see his friends from home until Xmas that way. But he wasn’t on our last trip to these relatives (one set of grandparents, and 2 sets of cousins) so this will be nice for all of us. </p>
<p>DS is doing well academically, but I’m not sure he’s really found “his people” yet. He’s joined a number of things, but hasn’t sounded really excited about anything. I’m sure it will work out in time.</p>
<p>emilybee, sounds like a terrific visit. Glad you are enjoying it.</p>
<p>We’ve now made our fall visit to ShawD, although ShawWife expect to be up in Toronto again this fall and could drop in. One interesting thing. We also took ShawD out to a nice dinner. We offered that she could invite her roommate or other friends. Either they said no, or more likely, she decided she wanted us to herself (or didn’t want us to embarrass her in front of her new friends?). Have you gotten takers when you offered to have your child invite others to dinner?</p>
<p>I’m giving a speech on Tuesday in the city in which her roommate’s parents live and I’m going to have breakfast with them the next morning.</p>
<p>We’ll have parents weekend next month with ShawSon, although ShawWife agreed to teach a painting workshop on the Saturday of parents weekend. [I think in a bow to some kind of political correctness (not sure who they were offending, step-parents?, but OK), it is now family weekend].</p>
<p>Amanda - Sending gentle hugs your way…three teens at once is a lot to handle. I totally get and support your feeling that it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it (not that you need approval, but sometimes validation is nice). I’m hoping for your sanity your DD1’s attitude it just a phase.</p>
<p>Got a call from Bluejr this am after I reminded him he’d been ignoring requests to drop off a scholarship check from his internship. He has lost the check and was avoiding telling me. The last ditch was to check at home. I so wish I could have told him it was here, but it’s not. 
He was so worried I was going to blow a nutty on him. I was sad that he was going through this, but not mad. He even asked if I was faking not being mad, which then made me cry knowing full well he had reason to expect that reaction. No, no faking. I did make it clear he had to contact the company to have the check reissued, that it was too much money. He understood readily. I think the relief of not having an irate mother made him more willing to accept that he had to follow up. Methinks I should try this for more in the future… the new normal isn’t so bad. ;)</p>