<p>Love the haiku DDHM! And Muf, glad to hear that D is happy despite bad roommate situation. </p>
<p>I don’t think I could go 10 days without hearing anything. I need more confirmation of life than that. Our kids are required to friend us on Facebook and let us follow them on twitter, so we get a lot of info/photos, etc. that way. So far DD has texted something at least every day. Not whole conversations but a funny remark here and there. I had hoped for maybe a few more phone calls - she used to call me on the way home from school every day and I got all my news that way. I miss those conversations. On the other hand, I do believe that the lack of phone calls means that she has found a local support system - friends to talk to. So that’s all good.</p>
<p>What has really changed is the whole family dynamic. I decided since it was nice outside this weekend, that we should go apple picking. None of the men in my household wanted anything to do with that. I know if DD had been home, she would have gone. Once the boys heard that DD and I were doing something, they would have gone just to avoid being “left out.” Now I am on my own with a bunch of computer and TV obsessed guys </p>
<p>I think I need a new hobby (other than cleaning and photo albums). Any suggestions??</p>
<p>There once was a college frosh named Mine,
Who remained in Radio Blackout all the Time.
S/he soon will realize,
That s/he’ll be penalized,
When s/he comes home to find us all soaking in Wine.</p>
<p>(My apologies to those of you who are teetotalers.)</p>
<hr>
<p>Carla: What gives you pleasure in life?
Is there a Big Sister or school volunteer program nearby who can match
you with a little girl who might love to do such outings from time to time?</p>
<p>I think you revealed my favorite hobby (wine) :)</p>
<p>I don’t know. I have too exclusively focused on my kids for the past 18 years. They have been my everything. My mother warned me but I didn’t listen. I really need to do some major self reflection on what I want the next phase of my life to be about. Its just a very abrupt change that I didn’t properly prepare myself for. </p>
<p>I hate to just be marking time between now and grandkids… My husband is hoping that I devote all that attention I had been giving to the kids, to him. Sad for him! haha.</p>
<p>Oh, my. I could not go 10 whole days without talking to ds. We’re talking every few days right now – sometimes for a long time, but usually something quick to accomplish a specific task.</p>
<p>Geez, nothing for 3 days then I get a short text…" What’s my Amazon Prime password?" I made her sign up herself just for this reason. But of course I knew it because I used her account to send some curtains last week</p>
<p>I would say I get a brief text from DS every day. Usually I ask him a quick question and he responds. Sometimes he needs information from me (ss#, credit card #, that sort of thing). I sent a package so I get to text every day “did you get the package?”. (BTW it has arrived he just hasn’t picked it up yet). We had a long discussion about changing math classes and since they have already had 10 alcohol-related emergencies on campus I text him every weekend morning “are you alive?”, just to be safe. He has not posted to Instagram, FB or Twitter since he left, which kills me. My stalking skills are excellent and I did finally find a picture of him on the fraternity FB page. I am sure communication will be less as the semester goes on, but honestly I am not ready to let go yet. With the older two, I figured out that no news is good news, so I am sure I will figure that out with S3 as well.</p>
<p>Carla: I forgot to say I was in your position 6 years ago, my D1 went away to school and I was left in a house of boys. I started going to yoga &/or pilates. Now that my third has left I went back to playing tennis and even joined a league that plays matches once a week.</p>
<p>Carla - Start a bookclub. Mine is mostly a happy hour club and support group and we spend a few minutes talking about the book. I’ve become very good friends with everyone in the group and really enjoy hanging out with them. </p>
<p>The last few texts I’ve received from my daughter were that she saw a rat that was the size of two of her feet put together. She’s in DC and when I told my parents about it my dad told me I should ask her if the rat was a member of the House or Senate and if it was Democrat or Republican. This morning she texted that she was early for a work study interview and she had to give a five minute presentation on a science topic of her choice so she was practicing her presentation outside the building and a squirrel “stalked” her LOL. I don’t think she’s enjoying the DC wildlife. I don’t really have much of a clue how she’s doing in her classes though and would love to get some texts about that. I miss having access to her class grades like I did in high school.</p>
<p>Regarding the squirrel - I am convinced that college squirrels are more accustomed to people than regular suburban squirrels. My son is a senior in college, and he has shown us how to attract a squirrel over by waving his arm up and down in a vertical line. The college squirrels just come right over. (This was tested at various colleges, including U of Illinois, U of Michigan, Berkeley, and Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina.) There have been several squirrel threads on CC.</p>
<p>Speaking of wildlife on campus, I know there’s been much discussion about break ups and long distance romances, but any interesting news on the dating front? Advice?</p>
<p>tx5athome and MSNDIS- I recently joined a book club and a bible study, and I captain our tennis team - so I am moving along those lines. How about something for the weekends that I can do with my husband? We haven’t had quiet weekends in 18 years so we don’t have any mutual hobbies (exhaustive sleep has become our mutual hobby).</p>
<p>I am VERY interested in romance/dating news - but I think I won’t get any there. I will have to keep stalking social media. DD didn’t date in high school, so it will be interesting to see what college brings. I met my husband when I was 18 - but I keep hearing that college kids don’t date any more.</p>
<p>Wife and I have always done things together so we have adjusted to being empty nesters pretty well although we have a lot more free time on the weekends.</p>
<p>We have a bike rack for our vehicle so we often go explore a different bike trail on weekends. That has been fun.</p>
<p>We often attend the local farmer’s market Saturday AM. Eat breakfast there and enjoy the live music.</p>
<p>We also have kayaks and go kayaking one day every other weekend or so.</p>
<p>Most Saturdays we meet up with friends for lunch or dinner. This time of year, it often means a sports bar to watch college football for a few hours.</p>
<p>Keeping yourself and hubby physically active would be my advice.</p>
<p>No dating news because ds2 and gf stayed together but are more than 1,000 miles apart. I ran into her parents last week and got all caught up on her, plus ds has filled in here and there. Her transition hasn’t been as great as she would have liked, but it’s fine. She’s in an off-campus private dorm, and it’s different – more like an apartment complex than a dorm where people prop their doors open, etc. Also, her campus is large and spread out, and she has a car, rather than being on a compact campus and walking everywhere. Ds thinks she just hasn’t had the same opportunities he has had to meet people. She’s applying for a really selective program. I think getting that would make a world of difference. She likes her roomie and classes so it’s mostly good.</p>
<p>Carla, I hope your dd has more luck than my ds1. He hasn’t dated at all in college, and he’s a senior.</p>
<p>Something that my husband and I did this last weekend was actually go out to a movie which we haven’t done in years. Although our taste in movies and TV shows are very different and we will soon run out of movies we mutually want to see</p>
<p>YDS, ds never dated in college also? Oh no, please don’t say. Few dates in hs here due to very limited selection (and no casual dating allowed, in their weird hs culture either you are just friends are you act nearly engaged) so just lots of regular friends. </p>
<p>I am really hoping that they will find better matches in personality and academic seriousness in college. However, my greatest fear is that they will both come home saying “like” every other word after I (figuratively) beat it out of them repeatedly during high school.</p>
<p>DH and I just did a ton of yard work together. Does that count? We’ve also been watching Netflix and cleaning house together. And we read books. And watch documentaries. </p>
<p>Oh gosh. We are one incredibly boring couple.</p>
<p>Dating: My S2 did not date in high school, and got to college and for 3 years had lots of girl friends, but no dating. I was constantly counseling him to “put himself out there” and “not to be so picky”. But no luck. Then this summer he went on a 4 week Travel Study to Greece and came home with a girlfriend!! (she was another student on the trip). It was a huge shock to all of us. He is such a nice guy I always wanted someone to see that. I am happy to see him happy, but also kind of sad because he doesn’t go back to school for another week, but now he is spending so much time with her and not hanging out with us as much. I guess you can say I am impossible to please.</p>
<p>mine was launched…and then called to day in tears after some “pre-med” told her she’d read the chem book “three times” and then “woke up at 4am to do the problem set again”…freaked DD out!! “am I supposed to do that!!!”…</p>
<p>It’s 2 weeks since move in, which went very smoothly. D was ready for us to leave long before we had planned to depart, but we went along happily. We felt a little lost, but had a leisurely shop through Sam’s Club (a rarity) and picked up dinner to go from a favorite restaurant. H had the week off, so we vacationed alone at home 'till after the holiday. </p>
<p>I’ve been down to see D 3 times since then! That was not in the plan, and I’m a little dismayed there isn’t more separation at this point. One visit had been planned, a birthday celebration just a few days after she hit campus. Then a trip down to deliver important items I wasn’t comfortable mailing, including her checkbook. How did she plan to write a check?!</p>
<p>That was a hard trip. I spent a couple of hours driving back and forth and only half an hour on campus, because I was worried about being there too much, too soon. But then I found myself upset, still not sure exactly why, with the short visit.</p>
<p>There’s been lots of contact, mostly because there’s so much going on for her. She’s had scheduling issues, and has added and dropped more classes than most kids take in a semester. Not sure how this double major is going to work out, the school has said repeatedly it’s do-able, but when it comes down to the details, the music school has been difficult to deal with. </p>
<p>D says that she’d rather cross the scientists than the musicians, the scientists are more laid back. So she’s being super careful around the musical directors, one of whom has been rather rude to her. I feel like I’m sitting on pins and needles waiting for her schedule to be resolved. </p>
<p>I hope I can post soon that she’s got a final schedule together. I just won’t feel like she’s fully launched until then!</p>
<p>LizzieT- what are your dd’s majors? DS is physics and is going to double in math and minor in music. I could have written the first part of your post. </p>
<p>I’ve seen DS three times. Once to run him his audition music for orchestra. Next he spent the day with us for my birthday, and his younger brother played hockey right near campus so he said he wanted to go to the game and to breakfast with us. We are 25minutes from campus. </p>
<p>He’s getting busier now and we are all back to school ( music teachers) so I don’t think we’ll see him much till his October break</p>
</p>