<p>@Barnardmom - Sending good vibes your way for a quick and painless surgery & recovery. And take your time, because you’ve earned a little R & R.</p>
<p>Your son’s Need to Know basis made me laugh @Felicita! Sounds like Spykid.</p>
<p>@staceyneil - We fit three of us and all of Spygirl’s stuff in a CR-V. It can be done with very careful packing. We used every packing space, including the trash can. But she didn’t bring a ton of clothes. </p>
<p>@ordinarylives - OMG, I’m speechless. Cannot believe the roommates parents went through your daughter’s things & then rearranged the room. That’s either extreme over parenting or these people are just nuts. </p>
<p>Spygirl has not clicked with her roommate and I’m worried this is going to be problematic. Move in was yesterday and that went fine. The dorms are larger than any of us expected so that was a happy surprise. DD was almost finished setting up when the roommate and her dad arrived. He happily helped moved furniture and adjust beds so that the room flowed a bit better. </p>
<p>The roommate is very sweet, and DD likes her but she may not be ready to be on her own. She is extremely nervous about being on campus. Dad mentioned (in front of her) that he doesn’t want her to come home on weekends because he wants her to adjust. But when Spygirl returned to her room yesterday after an orientation activity, the dad was there watching T.V. with the daughter, which he did a good part of the afternoon, which Spygirl found awkward and a little weird.</p>
<p>Whenever Spygirl leaves her dorm, the roomie follows. DD has suggested activities to try but she’s not interested. And she told Spygirl that she plans on spending all of her time in her room!! I suggested that DD give it some time. Hopefully her roomie will figure things out and feel a bit more at home once classes start. </p>
<p>@Agentninetynine It sounds like the poor roomie is just terrified. I’m guessing she’ll either get more comfortable once classes start or she’ll end up leaving school. Spykid just needs to go do her own thing. Perhaps the RA could help the roomie connect with some other people also. </p>
<p>Oldmom: Wegmans is just awesome! My husband is from Rochester (an alum of the U of R). He grew up with the chain. So glad that we live only 15 minutes from one. They have the best meat/chicken buys!</p>
<p>Ordinarylives: Talk about a controlling person. I feel for your student’s roommate. I know lots of moms who do everything for their kids – from cleaning to laundry to you name it. But, at some point, they need the responsibility of doing for themselves. My son has been just fine since arriving at school almost two weeks ago. He called a few times for laundry tips, but he has been doing his laundry. He is also responsible for cleaning his room and helping to clean the suite where he lives. Hopefully, he gets the message. If not, his roommates may not like it so much. The only things I offered as suggestions were to clean the bathroom each week (he has time, so does his roommate who shares the bath with him) and dump the trash daily (or deal with the possibility of bugs). </p>
<p>Several of my friends are dealing with the departure of their kids, and I can tell it has been extremely tough on them. One dropped off her son today at a military school. She cried all the way home. Another friend is dealing with the idea of today being her son’s birthday, and she is not there to celebrate with him. </p>
<p>Warning to those of you packing! Dear D brought everything in the world…except her purse complete with wallet!!! Had to have it Fed Exed by a friend!</p>
<p>Hahaha @lab317! That is funny but I shouldn’t laugh too hard. Spygirl left her brush and comb at home. Really? We were on the road for two days and at the hotel for another two and she never noticed. Guess she was using mine. </p>
<p>@momreads - I feel their pain. I was a little weepy before we left home. But tomorrow we leave her and go back to our lives and although I’ll miss her terribly, I’m ready.</p>
<p>I am feeling better than I expected. It was just the two of us (me and daughter) and now it’s just me. I came home Wednesday night and had a bad day yesterday but I actually got some stuff done today instead of sitting around moping. I adopted her when I was almost 50 and she was almost 2 because I wanted to do something important with my life. And I did but I am definitely too old to do that again!</p>
<p>I’m also doing better than expected. People thought I was nuts but I took most of last year to get used to the idea of her being gone. I died a thousand deaths and the reality could not possibly be as sad as how I imagined.</p>
<p>Joining a sorority has been better than I ever imagined, particularly since I never was into the Greek scene. The girls are all very nice and supportive, she’s clicking with them and they’re keeping her busy. She’s always made friends easily but she can tend to freak out over not knowing how to do things or get things done. She now has a support system helping her out. She’s at a retreat this weekend with them. She and roomie also seem to really be getting along well. </p>
<p>As for me, I’m golfing more, even in a tournament today, keeping busy, enjoying just having my son here alone for a few weeks. </p>
<p>Agent 99, my D is going through the same roomie thing. She follows her around like a shadow. Brushes teeth with her, etc. Hopefully, she this girl will find friends once classes start.</p>
<p>Just launched the BarnardGirl back to NYC for her junior year and it is hitting me harder this year than it did last year, I think. Perhaps because she was only home for a couple weeks the whole summer, and perhaps because I know when S launches on Thursday the nest will be empty… or perhaps both. I’m sad today. </p>
<p>Good Morning! Reading these posts reminds me of how I suffered through the first couple weeks after S11 went away to college. He didn’t call or text for a time and I felt jilted by him. After a couple months he started a routine of mostly pleasant Sunday calls and life became " new normal."</p>
<p>S14 doesn’t leave till Sept. 14. He has said good -bye to his core group of friends who have started school and feels out of sorts. He is starting to hang out a bit with some younger friends still in HS and some friends who stayed in town after HS. But he is really pulling away from us. He ate dinner with us only once this week, said he would do his own laundry, and shop for remaining items on his own.</p>
<p>Sigh… I have done too good of a job of teaching my sons to be independent .</p>
<p>I hardly saw my daughter during the last 2 weeks she was home. It was hard! But I knew I’d have her trapped in the car for 5.5+ hours on the way to school, and that evening in the hotel. That helped some, but of course not enough. My nest is exceedingly empty!</p>
<p>Had a nice long Skype session with CrowSon. Seemed like it has been forever, but we last saw him in person on Wednesday. We had a texted a little but I was still a bit anxious about how things were going. Seeing him so relaxed and in good humor – and especially seeing him interrupted 3 times by friends wanting to have lunch together – really makes a difference in my own mood. Maybe I can now shift focus to my S16 who starts school tomorrow. </p>
<p>We are also planning on weekly Skype calls. Next week I guess we’ll find out about the first week of classes. I expect a few wobbles getting textbooks and adjusting to the meal plan, but so far so good!</p>
<p>Made it to the east coast yesterday. Picked up the Bed, Bath and Beyond order, then hit Walmart & Best Buy. Back to the hotel and organized everything for move in tomorrow. It all fits much better in the under bed containers than it did in the back of the car when we first bought it all. It should fit nicely back into the car. Orientation volunteers unload everything and get it up to S’s room while we try to find a parking space in Boston. Roomie has an earlier move in time so he’ll be all set when we get there. Parent Orientation Tuesday and we go back to California on Wednesday. So far, so good.</p>
<p>S has been communicating with his roommate, and the other day he got an email from the RA. So he asked her about their suitemates (2 doubles share bath and kitchen), so they could coordinate kitchen and bathroom stuff, and she responded that she is their suitemate! So it’s just 3 of them - she’s a junior pre-med psych major, roomie is a classical guitar major, and DS is a CS major. I think this will be fine, except the RA might get a little annoyed if he doesn’t learn to clean up the bathroom a little better… We knew his dorm has a lot of athletes, but interestingly, there are 3 girls on the golf team on his floor. Apparently the girls have been more responsive to the “introduce yourself” email from the RA. S seems interested in learning about the kids on his floor; so far he’s told me that one is from China and one from Namibia. </p>
<p>I think he’s getting excited. He broke up with his girlfriend a week ago (sadly, but things were going south and there was no point in prolonging it), finished work last week, and has just been banging around the house since then. (GF was the socializer, and most of his friends have gone off to school already; one came over on Wednesday to hang out a bit before leaving.) He actually asked his Grandma the other day if she had any tips for him! I know he was probably just trying to be nice to her, connect a little, but I thought that was so sweet.</p>
<p>We leave on Thursday and it’s getting a little more real. But with the long flight, he’s not taking very much, so it still feels more like a vacation than a “move.” I’m looking forward to some fun shopping, though! DH and I both like to shop but not enough to live in a city, so we miss it a bit.</p>
<p>It’s reallly fun to read about all the different launch stories.</p>
<p>Spent most of the day with my older son, who just finished his first week of classes at UVA Law. He looks a little tired – combination of getting into the academic thing again (he worked for a year) and a little too much hanging out with his new friends. Got to take him and one of his friends to lunch, and we had a nice visit. He fills in the details about what his kid brother is going in school, because they text a lot. I’m glad for that, because I had to send an e-mail to the the younger son asking for details about deliveries (as in, did he get what he wanted after I ordered it). He did send me an e-mail later in the day to apologize for not communicating earlier, asked if I could order another pair of running shoes for him and thanked me for some new running clothes. Hopefully, we’ll chat sometime tonight … before I get too tired and need my bed.</p>
<p>I spent most of the day with S14 doing some clothes shopping. We went out to lunch and he talked my ear off. He was telling me about his break up with his girlfriend in July and how he felt about it. When I picked up the check to go pay he said “We can sit here a while still”. So we talked a bit more and I said we could keep talking while we shopped. This was a very rare event for him to ask to just sit and talk. I’ve been here all along- he wasn’t talking before! </p>
<p>Had my first weekly Skype session with S. I talked to him as he sorted his laundry and helped him pick which piles to put things in. He looked happy and a little tired. I know he’s been enjoying himself. I don’t think he has quite figured out when he’s going to actually do school work in between socializing. Hopefully he will figure it out soon.</p>
<p>D has successfully launched! We loaded 3 cars (D, the Ex and I drove separately) in 100 degree heat and oppressive humidity on Friday morning. It took us nearly 9 hours to make the 71/2 hour trip due to road construction and traffic. I was anxious that all that stuff would never fit into the dorm room, but somehow it did. I wish I could upload pics - it turned out really cute! The moms worked on beds and hanging items while the girls unpacked clothes and set up their desks. I read D the post that said “I’ll try to back off” “I need you to cut me some slack” and it seemed to work. </p>
<p>D seemed pretty relaxed. She and her roommate got off to a great start. Student orientation will continue through Tuesday. I’m hoping I hear from her today.</p>
<p>@staceyneil - the biggest problem I encountered was filling the prescriptions. For insurance reasons I wanted to use the CVS near campus. I called them ahead of time and grilled them for 15 minutes about state specific requirements. D has one controlled substance script that I was especially concerned about. After repeated assurances from the pharmacy at CVS that there was nothing particular other than an original script needed, they refused to fill any of D’s scripts because they weren’t written on special tamper proof paper (something I’ve never seen in SC). Admittedly, after a long day of move-in and programs, I came unglued at the pharmacy. I had worked really hard to get new scripts, coordinating refill dates, insurance reqts etc. so D would only have to go once a month and pick up everything. And I didn’t want her to have to deal with this hassle her first week at school. I have a call into her doctor this am and am working on Plan B. </p>
<p>I was an emotional wreck leading up to launch. I expected to be worse after I said my goodbyes yesterday afternoon. But I did a lot better than I thought I would. Perhaps I was just so exhausted from move-in and parent orientation that it took the edge off my emotions. I think it helped a lot though that I feel D is in the right place for her. </p>
<p>Welcome back those of you who just dropped kids off.
I got a text from S-- he got a bid at the fraternity he wanted. I don’t know much about the Greek process but I think one is all you need.
I’ve been busy dating (enjoying my new singlehood). It’s just nice to get out. This Wednesday is salsa dancing on the High Line. I’ve been watching YouTube to get the hang of it.</p>
<p>First day of classes for DS today and hopefully all goes well. Fraternity rush also starts today and continues through the week so we will see how that goes. Both DH and I were Greek at Northwestern so we have some familiarity with the process although of course many things have changed since then!</p>
<p>One more week of vacation for DD18 but she has had sports practices all August, both for school and club sports so she hasn’t really had much down time, and neither have I. I think that’s helped a lot with the transition to having DS away,</p>