Parents of the HS Class of 2014

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
13581

<p>Thank you for all the good wishes! The launch today went better than I could have dreamed.</p>

<p>DS had a slight meltdown last night. I chalked it up to nerves and I’m sure that’s all it was, because he woke up excited and with a big smile on his face. </p>

<p>As we finished up the packing, we talked about our visions for the day.</p>

<p>My idea: we arrive, help him unpack and arrange his room, go out to lunch and then leave, knowing he is cozily set up in his little nest.</p>

<p>His idea: we arrive, unload the stuff from the car, and we say goodbye. </p>

<p>:O</p>

<p>I begged to at least be able to make his bed. He agreed if I promised… no, this needs capitals… if I PROMISED to not do ANY organizing of his room. Nada. Zilch.</p>

<p>I took what I could get and agreed. :)</p>

<p>We arrived on campus to find everything extremely organized, as well as one elevator working! Helpful student ambassadors greeted each car, with bins on wheels for the boxes and suitcases. Honestly, it was so very smooth. Key pickup, bike registration… they knew exactly what they were doing and did it well. They told us that they had professional movers lined up to help us in case both elevators were still down. So the situation was not as dire as we had been led to believe.</p>

<p>We quickly got the belongings up to the room, made the bed, set up the printer, took pictures, and went out to lunch. DS was very sweet but obviously chomping at the bit for us to leave. So we said our goodbyes. </p>

<p>I was surprisingly okay. The only time I started crying was when we were actually on campus, driving toward the dorm. It became real then, but I got over it just as quickly. I just feel really good about the school and the program. It’s right for him.</p>

<p>I got three texts tonight, unprompted by me. He told me how good the dining hall food is, and how well he is adjusting. He just sounds really, really happy. </p>

<p>Oh, and DH and I went out to a very nice and very expensive champagne dinner tonight to celebrate.</p>

<p>So… the first launch is a rousing success!! Beadymom and MaryJay, I believe your kiddos are next. Best wishes to you!!</p>

<p>@2014Novamom - you are right about UCSB starting the fall quarter at the end of September. My son is in a summer start program which gives freshmen course credits while also giving them the opportunity to get comfortable with the campus while fewer students are there. </p>

13582

<p>Thanks to many of you with helpful suggestions regarding a safe for our son’s dorm room. And many of you also chimed in on a piece that was not even part of my original question – My son also takes ADHD meds, and we weren’t sure how we wanted to handle that piece. He’s concerned that if his roommate or dorm-mates see him taking meds in or out of a safe it creates more risk (and raises questions he’d prefer not to answer). We’re still not sure how we’re going to handle all of this.</p>

<p>I love the idea of the laptop cable, but his computer doesn’t have one of those Kensington docking ports so a cable may not be an option. . . And I am going to call my homeowners insurance company tomorrow to check out our coverage.</p>

<p>Thanks again!!</p>

13583

<p>Calla1: So happy to hear that move-in went well, your son is thrilled to be on campus and you and your husband got to celebrate with a nice dinner.</p>

<p>Onlyonemom: You will find a dream job. You have amazing qualifications.Some health organization would love to have you.</p>

<p>We have discussed move-in a little bit. I told my son that I would help him set up his room – as in, help him make the bed, find where all his clothing is, make sure he has what he needs, make a Wal-Mart run for snacks and do lunch before I depart. He seems all right with all that. He made some tweaks to his schedule, and now he has 16 hours. Followed his brother’s advice and is taking physics – required by his math major. He shifted around his Calculus III class so that it is in the morning. The change gives him more time for dinner a couple of nights a week. He also got word that the college is now giving credit for AP stats, so he starts school with 56 hours. That should allow for lots of options over four years.</p>

13584

<p>@asleepatthewheel Exactly. I doubt my son will want to lock up his meds, but if he starts to get nervous about it (e.g. if he hears people talking about it or if they actually get stolen) he’ll have what he needs. And it will be a good place to stash the important papers (passport, social security card) so they don’t get lost.</p>

13585

<p>@calla1 _ I am so happy to hear the move-in went well! I laughed out loud when I read that you had to PROMISE that you would not arrange his room! I am sure I will get the same lecture! …then I started to tear up when you mentioned starting to cry when you got on campus! That will be me for sure!..</p>

<p>Thank you everyone for the support! i feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders! I didn’t tell my son about quitting. I only said that i would be working from home for the next two weeks ( which is true). I have never up and quit a job before without having another one but my stress level was over the top! …</p>

<p>@MathmomVT_ we had a fun dinner conversation last night- trying to determining the odds of my S getting your son as a roommate. I said to my S what are the odds of you getting my “virtual friend’s” son as a roommate and if you were roommates how long would it take to determine he was her S? We had fun trying to figure it out. We were trying to guess - how many males would be from Vermont , attending the honors college, be an engineering student and have his own refrigerator…lol…It was fun and relaxing and he seemed happy that I would be home for two weeks before he left! …I am sure he won’t be too happy when I start pushing him to finish reading his book and write the essay -due the first day of class! </p>

<p>I do have to add that a wonderful Mom from Vermont offered me a dorm frig and we will be picking it up on our way to UVM! I love CC! …@MathmomVT -another data point! </p>

13586

<p>We also called my insurance co, but in our state there are no riders. Dorm insurance is available as a separate policy and has a $500 deductible. Yeah, no. Will look into CSI or NSSI for coverage. Less expensive, smaller deductible, covers drops, and covers the cell phone. On the bright side, d can be listed as “away at college” on the auto insurance policy, thereby reducing that bill until we let her have her car.</p>

13587

<p>@onlyonemom - I became friends with a mom on the 2012 board. Both our kids went to the same school and as we talked I just knew, if my son met this guy, they’d be friends. They ended up being 2 doors down from each other freshman year and became besties right off the bat. We kinda sorta had held back on how well we knew each other!</p>

13588

<p>@jrmama496 - I wish I could do that. USAA requires that a kid be 100 miles from home and S2’s only going 50 miles. He’s not taking his car until at least next semester - I want to see some grades first.
@eyemamom - best of luck and Panhellenic love to your daughter! I hope she gets her heart’s desire. She was smart to organize so well - recruitment is serious business in the SEC.</p>

13589

<p>@onlyonemom @eyemamom My daughter’s roommate at Drew this fall is a girl whose mother I met her on CC…the two of us moms spoke and thought they would be a good match and so far so good… This is a great community of families. </p>

13590

<p>@eyemamom So excited to hear about your D’s recruitment! </p>

<p>Today, I’ve been hit with this sudden flood of excitement and melancholy all at once. Reading @calla1 's summary of the day just kind of cemented it all. I’m glad things went well! </p>

13591

<p>I am in withdrawal. </p>

<p>I’m finding myself wishing there were webcams on campus. Kind of like at camp.</p>

<p>On second thought, it’s better they don’t have them. I wouldn’t have a life.</p>

<p>@onlyonemom, I’m glad you are taking care of yourself! Congratulations, and may your next position be a wonderful fit.</p>

13592

<p>I don’t get the bed-making thing. S has been doing his own laundry, including sheets, and making his own bed for years. I think it would be weird to do it for him now on move-in.</p>

<p>On the other hand, we are all flying to Denver 2 days before move-in day, at S’ s request, to do some shopping for dorm stuff and clothes for him, and to have “one last mini-family-vacation”. Actually gave him the option of going solo, having one of us go, or both, and he picked both. Kind of expensive but we haven’t had a real vacation, all of us together, in years, and H hasn’t been back to the mainland in 6 years. We’ll also be staying for 2 more days for “parent orientation” which runs in parallel with the first 2 days of the student orientation, but we don’t count on seeing S during that time. We’ll see if he can spare an hour or two for a farewell dinner, or if he’s too busy or uninterested. </p>

<p>Anyone know about taking a student OFF of health insurance? In our case the school insurance is way better than ours, and ours doesn’t provide coverage in Denver, so we’re buying the SHIP for S. Will I be able to take him off of our policy (individual, not group) right away, or do I have to wait for the annual “enrollment period”? I keep meaning to call but forgetting during business hours.</p>

13593

<p>D had made her own bed too, but when there are 4 people there, it’s kind of weird to have 3 stand there watching the other one unpack. So we all pitched in. Making the bed is an easy task to help with because it doesn’t involve figuring out where to put anything. I thought it was important for her to organize “stuff”. Her dad and my son ended up going to the ( air-conditioned) lounge while we worked on getting her room together once her clothes were hung in the closet. </p>

13594

<p>@Sweetbeet‌ I think normally when there is a “life change” like moving to college and getting his own insurance, you can adjust your existing policy right away, but you will need to call your insurance company for details. </p>

<p>wrt ADHD meds and the safe, if he does decide to keep part of his 3-month supply in the safe, we’ll advise him to transfer his short-term supply out at a time when he’s alone in the room, to avoid questions and drawing attention. In general it’s good I think if the safe is in a non-obvious place and no one else knows it’s there. My DS1 was the first into the room freshman year, so it made it easy for us to “hide” his safe before his roommate arrived. We hooked the cable around the closet rod, and put it on the top shelf, behind his sleeping bag. Once he got to know his roommate better, he probably didn’t worry about him knowing that he had it or where it was, but the less attention you draw, the better, obviously.</p>

13595

<p>@Sweetbeet‌
You can talk to your insurance. I’m in the process of switching me and the kids to my workplace insurance since that insurance has a national coverage. Right now we are on my wife’s health insurance which has cheaper premium but no coverage (except urgent care and emergency) outside California. It’s a qualified life change per IRS since there’s a change of residency and there’s a curtailment/reduced of coverage.</p>

13596

<p>Tried to have a last vacation with the family this week but D14 got pneumonia! She has been a mess for six days now with fever at 104.4. On antibiotics but I am concerned about fluid in her lungs. She can’t stop coughing. I do hope she is better before moving in on Aug 20. Prayers requested!</p>

13597

<p>Oh no, @cakeisgreat, I am praying for your daughter! That is a scary high fever!!!</p>

<p>@sweetbeet, DS has made his own bed and done his own laundry for years also. His bed just became…somehow… very symbolic for me. Like wrapping him up in love in this new place. </p>

13598

<p>@cakeisgreat, that’s awful. I’m sending good thoughts her way! Most kids that age are pretty resilient, I can’t believe how fast DS got over mono - he had a bad case of it and while he was in hell for a while, after 2 weeks he was back to his old self.</p>

<p>@calla1, yeah, I can see that; makes sense to me. The way some people wrote about it, it seemed as if they had been doing that all the time at home (which is fine, if that’s how your family works), and were going to literally miss making the bed for their younguns. I think my tendencies are more toward buying him lots of new clothes as a way of “wrapping him in love,” but I definitely get the feeling.</p>

<p>@2016BarnardMom, we will probably all pitch in toward making up the room too, but if DS nixes that (as I did, when my parents dropped me off - I was SUCH a heel, basically just wanted a hug after my stuff was unloaded and - ugh, I shudder to think of it now - booted them to the curb after a 600 mile trip;’ man, I was HORRIBLE! If DS is like that it will definitely be karma), we’ll just let him do it all himself. </p>

13599

<p>My twin daughters are heading off in a few more weeks. At least they don’t have to move in on the same day. I think I may cry on the drive home. They are ready, me, not so much.</p>

13600

<p>Just in case your D (or D) has not had a lot of experience making beds (or changing them and washing the sheets), try this tip I picked up when S-2011 was a freshman. If you are in the dorm room and helping to make the bed, have a $20 dollar bill or two or maybe even a $50 bill with a post it note already filled out with “Surprise - Let me know that you found this. Love, Mom or Dad” and the date. When making the bed, find a way without being seen to put the bill(s) at the foot of the bed, on top of the matress pad or topper but under the bottom fitted sheet. Then wait to see how long it takes for S (or D) to call about finding the note and cash. This will tell you how often the sheets may be getting washed.</p>

<p>Of course, there was one student who found the cash and never said anything until he was home at Thanksgiving and was being questioned about laundry, etc. and had the mom in a tizzy about the lack of clean sheets and then he pulled the cash and note out of his wallet and had the last laugh.</p>

<p>The note is important if the sheets are changed and the cash goes flying and ends up out of sight on the floor or under the bed. When found it by S or D or one of the roommates it will be identifiable.</p>

<p>Have fun if you like to be sneaky or have a little fun with your S or D.</p>