<p>I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all the posts here - funny our family just watched Election before the college drop off. It was part of our - you must see these movies before you leave our home quest :)</p>
<p>So… I am sad. Not going to pretend I’m not. 2 kids at once was tough; it leaves a large void. I still have 1 tall blonde at home which is great. She is actually loving the attention. Rationally I know my 2DDs are in the right place, and it is their time to shine, but emotionally, I want them to be young again, to have our family in tact. I recall my mom loved being an empty nester when I left for college. Of course, I was a HANDFULL at times so I honestly don’t blame her. Anyway, I’m not loving this new phase. But I am determined to find a way to like it. </p>
<p>Thank you itsv re: the care package club idea. </p>
<p>@3tallblonds, I noticed that my DD17 is also enjoying being at the center of attention now. Last year, we were mostly worried about DS14 getting his college applications done on-time. A couple of times last year, DD said that we only cared about her big brother! </p>
<p>Just heard that US News will come out with 2015 college rankings tomorrow. It’s hard to believe it was a year ago when DS started to work on his common application and entered into the college search process. Now he is a happy college freshman. We do miss him dearly. </p>
<p>S sent me a text “I’m sick and it’s annoying/miserable”. Typical cold type symptoms. I referred him to his box of meds that can help him feel better and he reported back that they seem to have helped him feel “almost decent”. No fever, just the runny nose, sore throat, cough thing going on. He has been texting a lot tonight- I remember that first time I was sick and away from home and how much I just wanted to be home. He told me that everybody is jealous of his relationship with his roommate because they get along so well. He’s making lots of friends. Things seem good, even though he’s sick. </p>
<p>Anyone else have a S or D who used the physical separation of going away to college to announce something about themselves that they had been hiding from you? From the safety of his dorm (well, residential college) room my S announced to us on the phone that he had become a Republican and might even join the campus club. This was a shock, given that DW and I are on the Bernie Sanders side of the spectrum. Of course we told him that we loved him anyway, but I warned him not to tell his aunts (my sisters), who are dyed-in-the-wool Democrats and who might not be so open-minded.</p>
<p>Okay austinareadad - that’s actually pretty fun. I was waiting for the coming out of the closet announcement. As a republican I can only say we don’t bite (and we are half of the population of the country). </p>
<p>I think my daughter is the teensiest bit homesick. I don’t think homesick as much as twinges for the familiar. She has days where she’ll call and text a lot and then days where I don’t hear from her at all. She’s always been very close to me so I’m not sure how much to worry. Because as we all know worrying has the chance of changing the outcome so I need to decide if I worry a little or a lot.</p>
<p>She’s not as enamored with sorority life as she hoped. It feels like an existential crisis to her, while I’m trying to tell her to just keep going along, see if you connect to more girls and see how it goes. I think she believes these girls will become thick as thieves instantly. </p>
<p>@austinareadad – Congratulations on having a son who shows maturity of intellect and thought. I agree that he should not tell his aunts. Most Republicans see Democrats as misguided or not very smart. Most Democrats see Republicans as malevolent and greedy. The news would unfairly bias his aunts against him.</p>
<p>Being sick away from home is tough. It’s easy to feel jealous of other roommate situations, especially when one is ill. Adjusting to a new way of life is tough on them. And us!</p>
<p>@Eyemamom - Hopefully the homesickness will fade over time. Someone once posted that the first 6-8 weeks of college are like a W. Everyone starts at the top, excited for something new. Then reality takes hold and there’s a dip in attitude & mood. Matters improve once a routine is established. But there’s a dip again around mid-terms. Usually to rise again once they are part of a friend group. Maybe her expectations of sorority life were just a bit high, but she’ll start to enjoy it once she’s more active. </p>
<p>I worry about Spygirl as she hasn’t posted any photos on social media of friends or activities, which is unusual for her. I’m hoping this too will return to normal soon. </p>
<p>@austinareadad - Ha! I too expected something along the lines of coming out of the closet related to sexuality not political affiliation. </p>
<p>We also have a potential “Family Ties Syndrome” case in Spykid. We are Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren lefties. Our son is all over the map politically. He really just wants to be King of the World. But that means he would work for KAOS and I don’t want that to happen. I guess we should just be happy our kids are engaged enough to care at all.</p>
<p>We did receive a text from D last weekend saying , “I want you to meet my GIRLFRIEND (!!!)”
Although she’d just broken up amicably with her boyfriend, we were not terribly surprised, and she’s incredibly happy.</p>
<p>I will admit, at first, I was a little bit like, “Well, sheesh, I thought part of the point of going to a single-sex school was to avoid the distraction and drama of relationships and concentrate on academics!” But she seems to be doing really well academically so far, so hopefully it’s all good :)</p>
<p>I think D’s experience is more like an M than a W, and she’s hit that second dip. It caught me by surprise after she was so up last week. It just takes a little bit of stress to knock them down quickly and then they realize that there isn’t a true support system yet. I hope she starts the climb back up soon.</p>
<p>Hope everyone’s kids who were sick are getting better. So far it was DS’11 for us who was sick - he texted Friday night that he didn’t feel well and had gone to health services (they do learn!!) Turns out he had strep! They gave him antibiotics and by the next day he was feeling better. So strange - he had only had strep once before in his life when he was 6 or 7 and my cousin was getting married. Glad he’s learned how and where to get help. And then I told him to disinfect everything in his house - door handles, light switches, phone, computer, etc! Don’t want him getting his roommates sick or reinfecting himself.</p>
<p>We also had a nice skype call from DD Sunday night. It was really nice to see and hear her but she did look tired. And the poor dog was so confused! He could hear her voice and knew her car was still in the driveway so he kept barking at us to let him out to go see her! He could see her on the iPad screen but wanted to go outside to see her! We finally had to shut the front door so he would be quiet and we could hear DD!</p>
<p>She’s still trying to figure out her schedule (small sections) and deal with some auditions and figure out life there. I think she was very tired from their “Unit Wars” which had gone on all afternoon in the sun. Luckily someone had brought sunscreen as I was worried about her burning without any (and of course she didn’t remember to bring hers). I think the workload will take some getting used to.</p>
<p>The one problem is the rug we ordered through residential services never arrived and isn’t going to actually be delivered. I told her I would look for one and see what I found and then bring it down to her if that worked. She said yes! So I found one at Home Depot yesterday, got her approval, and bought it today (and it was cheaper than the original one!) So Friday after lunch I’ll bring it down to her and bring along the dog. I think they’ll both be happy to see each other and hopefully it will give her a lift! And hopefully I can find out more about how she’s really doing and how things are really going with the roommate as it was kind of difficult to talk about that when she was in the room also. I can’t wait till Friday!!</p>
<p>I don’t hear often enough from my D, which I suspect is a good thing. I’ve started watching the old TV show Felicity on Hulu so I can at least see someone’s college life. I just hope my D’s life isn’t as dramatic as Felicity’s.</p>
<p>@akmom124 tell him to ditch his toothbrush about halfway through the course of antibiotics. </p>
<p>We’ve been hearing from the boy a reasonable amount, and he seems happy. Only class he doesn’t like the prof for is calculus, and that’s mostly going to be review for him, so he should be ok. He’s mentioned a couple of times helping classmates with the calculus. He likes his CS prof a lot and the prof has suggested that he might be able to get a job as a TA for that class next semester, so that’s nice, especially since he’s more of a spender than his brother, and I don’t think his savings are going to last that long. (He’s not working this semester.)</p>
<p>S is on the upswing with the cold. He has a residual cough but is feeling better overall. I get occasional funny texts from him such as “Is it ok if I used two dryer sheets at once?” LOL. </p>
<p>@akmom124 - Your dog story made me chuckle. Now I’m curious how our dog will react to Skype. </p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom - I too got an amusing laundry text from D. “The laundry detergent you got me is useless. The washer has a vent on it so it only takes liquids.” When I told her to put the pods in with the laundry, she replied, “in the machine?” Yes, honey, inside the machine. Lol. </p>
<p>DS got a bid from a fraternity last night so he will be pledging. Fraternity rush is certainly a much more laid-back process than sorority rush, which was also the case back in the dark ages when both DH and I went through it. </p>
<p>We hear from DS quite often, at least once a day. Sometimes it’s just to relay something funny, other times to ask a question (I’ve gotten a couple of laundry ones). He asked DH about a math problem once (DH was an applied mathematician before moving on to the business side of things). He also texts his sister every once in a while.</p>
<p>And we will actually see him a few times before Thanksgiving. DH went out there last weekend for a game, DH and DD18 are going out the first weekend of October for a game while I am away visiting my parents, I go out for parents weekend in mid-October, and there several away games within driving distance, including one next week. He might just get sick of us!</p>
<p>The joys of college laundry. D called yesterday because her clothes were still wet at the end of the dryer cycle. It sounds like the dryer tumbled but did not heat. She was doubly frustrated - having to pay for another dryer AND having to abandon her clothes and get to class. Of course, the dryer that did work was too hot and shrank some of her clothes…</p>
<p>I appreciate all the stories, hearing what other students are going through, good and bad. </p>
<p>I vowed that this week I would let D initiate contact and so far, nada. I know no news is good news, but an occasional text or fb message would be welcome, especially today, my birthday. </p>
<p>Oh, the heartache of raising an independent young woman. ;-)</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions @asleepatthewheel that was my strategy the past 3 weeks, this week I wanted to see what she’d do on her own and @mathmomvt my husband doesn’t like to text but I did suggest he give her a call tonight. I know she’s caught up in the newness of it all, and this week her campus is crazy with Humans vs. Zombies.</p>
<p>Husband and I also talked about the likelihood of there being on campus mentions of 9/11 (which might help trigger her memory that it’s also mom’s birthday). These kids were in kindergarten in 2001, unless they were personally affected is it just another piece of history to them? D is in Anthropology right now, maybe there’s a class discussion of terrorist acts changing societies. Or maybe they’re still discussing ancient civilizations, I don’t know, since I never hear from her!</p>
I guess we should just be happy our kids are engaged enough to care at all.</p>