<p>Good tips, OldFort. My son has developed an ongoing relationship with his internship supervisor because this is his second summer there and he also did some time there during the school year, but I can certainly see how if one is doing a one-time internship far from home and may not see those people again, it would be good to get the recommendation in hand now. Son is looking at graduating a semester early, so this may be his last full year coming up! Wow. Time does fly. Job options look good so he’ll be considering whether it’s worth getting a graduate degree (in CompSci/ Software Engineering) or just joining the work force right away. </p>
<p>D being in NYC this summer has been useful for her. She’s had two interviews for fall internships so far. Aside from that, being an RA for the summer program that made her fall in love with Barnard in the first place has renewed her motivation and love for the school 
I had hoped it would do that as she had kind of hit a slump. </p>
<p>Hi everyone, its been a while since I’ve posted here. I see some familiar screen names. Catching up on some of your news makes me realize how quickly flies has flown by. My D had a summer internship abroad (she’s an athlete and has no time to go abroad during the year) and came home in time for our family vacation. Now, she’s on the road playing in some tournaments. Upon her return, she’ll have two weeks before leaving for school. </p>
<p>Oldfort, my D will also be taking the LSAT but not til June. We haven’t talked about test prep, campus visits, etc. I imagine all of this will be the topic of our conversations later in the school year. She has a specific list of schools. It will be interesting to see how things work out for our Ds.</p>
<p>D2 is handling law school stuff on her own, very different than college application. I guess it’s all part of growing up. I have offered to pay for a private counselor to help with LSAT and essays. </p>
<p>D is packing. We are paying a storage company an inordinate amount of money to pick up her 11 boxes, store them for a month, and return them to her new dorm at the end of August. I am SO glad my S is going to school 45 minutes away. This is going to be a piece of cake in comparison!</p>
<p>2016barnardmom, My oldest son (hs 2012) was about 3 hours away. He transferred to a university that is about 50 minutes away. It is so much better. I really don’t see him more often because he is busy. However, it makes me feel better to have him closer to home. Soon my son that graduates high school in 2016 will be selecting a college. I hope he selects a college close to home. He wants to be relatively close to home. His #1 choice right now is only about 30 minutes away. Then there are a few that are 1.5 to 2 hours away. The good thing is that those that are a distance away are in cities with good transportation system (easy access to trains,etc). For example the train fare for one of the cities is only $26 roundtrip. I would still prefer to have him a bit closer because he hopes to play soccer in college. I would like to attend his home games if he gets an opportunity to play. Probably getting ahead of myself. LOL First he needs to get admitted to the college that is a good fit. Then we will worry about soccer…</p>
<p>D12 enjoyed her time volunteering at Head Start. She did a mix of administrative stuff and classroom stuff.</p>
<p>She is now working as a nanny until she goes back to school.</p>
<p>My D has had several interviews for internships for fall and was quite excited to be offered one today. The company is one of her favorite clothing stores. I don’t know many details as this one happened very quickly but she’s super excited about it. </p>
<p>(from the mom formerly known as mommymommy – I’ve lost track of that login) Woke up wondering how the young woman who struggled during her first semester at Harvard is doing. Will scroll back a bit to try and find out. Anyhoo: here we are starting junior year! University of Vermont proved to be a great fit for my daughter. She’s thrived there as an environmental studies major, and is going to TA for her favorite professor in the fall. Just a blink ago, we were fretting about where she’d go to college, and now she’s going to be TEACHING an Environmental Studies 101 lab to incoming freshmen. She and four friends rented their first apartment in Burlington this summer. It’s a dump, and they’re having a blast playing house. All’s well. Sending my best to you all. </p>
<p>Good to hear, mommymommy! UVM is a great school and the location is pretty good, too. I am glad to hear that your D is having a great experience. </p>
<p>@momgina - what issue do you have with your old userid?</p>
<p>@cpuscientist3000 has not been around in a while. Not sure how her sophomore year went.</p>
<p>My BarnardGirl came home last night. She’s leaving for Florida with her dad and brother in the morning though. They’ll be back in a week and then I’ll have a week with her at home before she goes back to Barnard. It’s good to have her home Then, 4 days after she goes back to school my Son (HS Class of 2014) launches. What then?</p>
<p>If it’s like our household, you will have them coming and going for a long time to come. </p>
<p>We were sad to send S12 off to college and it was hard to get used to the quiet house. We adjusted after a while and I enjoyed planning supper for the 2 of us, as well as looking for fun outings and activities. Last summer S16 came back and D13 graduated from college and also returned for the 1st time in a few years. The house felt very full and out of our control for a while. S16 headed back to school in the fall and D13 found a job but continued to live with us for this last year. S16 is away at an internship this summer and D13 is moving out in a couple of weeks. </p>
<p>I’m anticipating another transition for us, both emotional and in our home. I don’t expect we are done with boomerangs but probably they’ll be for shorter time periods. It was fun to rediscover our daughter as an adult, but it was time for her to move on. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks @northernwoods . I know I’ll be ok and part of me is excited- I do have a list of “plusses”. The main worry is how much time I’ll be alone and whether it will bother me. I think it would be easier if I wasn’t single. I’m trying to focus on the positives- less cooking and laundry, the house staying clean, having the TV all to myself all the time, etc. There will be positives. And I’m planning on learning how to quilt. The community education brochure with classes came today so I was looking that over and saw a couple classes I might take for fun. </p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom - as soon as S goes back to school in a few weeks we’ll be alone. My d was one who took up a lot of space, emotionally and otherwise in this house. I’m working now on rediscovering my interests and starting to figure out what I want to do. I’ve always been the mom who was home when they got home from school, had dinner every night, and very involved in their lives. Now I have to remember who I am outside of being their mom. But first I feel like I need some time to be home and not go running off to fill up time, but to be thoughtful with what I do next. </p>
<p>D and I shopped all day today! She wanted new bedding and dorm decor. She was in an on campus apartment last year but is moving back to the dorms as an RA and gets a free single room in addition to a stipend. Tomorrow is her last shift at the amusement park, then she goes away for a much deserved long weekend with bf. She is required to be back at school on the 21st for RA training. I’m hoping she doesn’t decide to change her major yet again…</p>
<p>Youngest is safely tucked into his dorm at Eckerd and loves it so far. We leave soon to drop middle off back at U Roc for his RA job.</p>
<p>Empty nesting is eerily close at this point.</p>
<p>It was a wonderful summer… and I wish them well as they use their wings.</p>
<p>@Creekland How are you doing with your health? I know you don’t like talking about on the 2014 thread. I’ll have Barnardgirl home for a week when they get back from their Florida vacation with their dad. I’m looking forward to having her around a bit She has her internship all set for fall term- an actual paid one this time too! She’s playing around with her class schedule as she realized she had a whole lot of credits and wanted to cut them back a bit. </p>
<p>Well my little chickie flew back into the nest last night for a short 10 day stay. Happy to have her back in the country. Her fall schedule is also a bit still up in the air. She is on a waiting list for one class, and needs to decide about her advisor’s grad course which she has been invited to join. If both come through she will have 5 small or seminar classes - along with the unending rehearsals. Good thing she is happy when she is busy.</p>
<p>She came back from her internship with mixed feelings about the foreign service, and eager to find different kinds of other internships in policy or law. I keep telling her one of the best things about internships is figuring out what you don’t want to do.</p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom I’ll be dealing with health issues again later this month. There’s definitely more to deal with (nerve/spine stuff in addition to the brain tumor), but I wanted to put it off until the guys were back at school. I don’t think any of it is fatal, but it also sure isn’t pleasant now that it’s progressing more. I have a distinct feeling my active lifestyle will have to change somewhat and that isn’t exactly a welcome feeling. But, I’ll know more after some more tests and consultations in the near future.</p>