D24 is currently sick…no fever but cough and congestion and general misery. She caught strep early on during the fall semester, but was better within 24 hours of getting abx. This time, it sounds viral, so…just hoping she can keep up with classes. There’s never a good time to be sick, but she’s also in the middle of rush, so I would say this is a particularly bad time to not feel 100%.
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That sounds like misery. It’s so hard to hear they are sick and you can’t really do much from xxx miles away. I hope it doesn’t interfere with her Rush. At least for the classes, there should be enough time to catch up early in the semester.
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Fingers crossed it stays a mild cold. Sickness is everywhere.
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Oh no! What terrible timing during rush when you have to speak so much and go to event after event. I hope she gets better very quickly and that it ends up having minimal impact on rush outcome and coursework! Sending get well wishes her way.
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So S24 practiced a lot over break to make the Nationals team in one of his club sports–which he did! And that means we are making a long weekend out of traveling to that tournament. Which is great because he is going on Spring Break with his OTHER club team, and then staying in St Louis after school ends for some additional weeks to train for THEIR tournament.
Which means we would not otherwise have seen him for like 5.5 months! Which felt strange.
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Today, D24 got a summer internship offer at a Fortune 500 insurance company.
Really glad this worked out well as we found out most companies only want rising juniors and seniors.
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S24 is having a much better spring semester. His schedule stinks (4 classes M/W; 1 4pm class T/R/F) and he was not able to get into the English Comp 2 class he needs so he needs to figure that out. He will also be taking Physics 1 and 2 online this summer to stay on track since he changed his major and is now a semester behind…BUT he is so much happier this semester overall. We are relieved and keeping everything crossed that he continues to have a good semester. I think getting through all of that last semester made him realize that he is capable of doing hard things, even when they suck. I think I aged a few years and have some more grey hair after all that!
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Hugs to all the students and families struggling with winter illness
Otherwise, wow! So much great news on the board! I love hearing how our group’s kids are thriving
I’m excited to report that my D24 got a part time job (10 hours per week) as an intern with her school’s Leadership Center! She will be writing for their newsletter and managing social media accounts. This is right up her alley, she is getting paid, and I think it is going to really help her make wonderful connections and go to interesting events. I’m so happy for her! She is also applying for summer jobs and internships but nothing lined up yet.
S24 is happy, but not loving his second semester classes - business statistics, managerial accounting, macroeconomics, and computer systems for business majors. Have to admit, doesn’t sound thrilling. But, he has a summer job working at the company where I work and he will get to rotate through various departments, such as accounting, marketing, and legal, so he is looking forward to that.
Husband and I have been finding our empty nest a bit too quiet, so we are getting a puppy today! Yes, it will be hard, but we are excited. I’m most nervous about how our 7 year dog will react to his new “little sister.”
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Enjoy the chaos! 
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Congratulations 
! What breed do you have and what breed are you getting? Hope they surprise you with how well they do together!
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Thank you! She’s a black and white cocker spaniel! We had a cocker when we first got married who was a wonderful dog, and my husband has wanted another cocker since was lost him nearly 15 years ago. Our other dog will be fine after a few days. He is a very sweet, laid back English Setter. So far my husband’s trip home with the puppy is going well and I get to meet her in about 2 hours. I’ve only had boy dogs before, so I’m looking forward to a girl.
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Just catching up on all the old posts, lots of good news and some unfortunate health news! Hope everyone is on the mend (especially the concussion) and stays healthy.
Some ramblings from our end, one fun convo we had over break as a family was what we’d do differently if we could go back. Mine was attend all the amazing speakers and performances, wish I’d taken advantage of that more. Wowed by the speakers and hope he finds the time. I send them, they get a thumbs up, but I never hear about them so I think I have my answer.
I mentioned in past about how there was an orgo shortage and mine luckily got in. I guess they added another one during shopping period. My kid has some app that alerts for openings and he was spamming a friend in class to hop on and grab. They were extremely grateful, I guess some will not get a spot so gap year whether you want it or not. Still shocked by this.
On topic of classes, he shopped 2 different orgo professors. One is more recommended, but he actually liked other a lot. We were chatting about how much weight to give opinions and how often they can be weighted on personality factors. He told me the popular one did a handstand to demonstrate something and is very engaging, so can see why he is liked.
I adore his roommate, lots of similarities, but also a fun balance for each other. I think we both envy his experience a bit, totally taking advantage of open curriculum and just diving into all sorts of things. I think mine wishes he could have two parallel college experiences.
Starts EMS this semester, they only took 10, so happy for him as he’s been missing it. Has 2 internships offers in underserved clinics for summer, but just now heard back from something he applied to. It’s more on the public health side, but is affiliated with 2 great hospital systems near home so could be interesting. He’s thinking he should prioritize clinical, but wants to do it all and wishes more time both in classes and opportunities. Good problems to have I realize.
One other funny thing of note, the public health internship had 7 or so essays and some of his anecdotes used were same from college applications. He laughed at his old essays, I reread and kind of did too. I think it’s wonderful they are already cringy - growth!
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Things that make my mom heart happy:
When D24 calls D26 and spends 45 min on the phone with her to talk about random stuff. 
In other news, D24 thinks that her last final exam is on 5/12. So the plan is for DH to fly there the evening before or on the morning of 5/12, help her move her stuff out that afternoon & into a storage unit, then the 2 of them fly home together on 5/13. She’s not planning on applying for any summer jobs until…April. And won’t listen to her parents’ advice on this. OH MY GOSH!
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Just bought D24’s airline ticket to come home for spring break next month. 3.5 weeks until I see her - can’t wait!
She is managing her classes pretty well - first real exams in Calc and Chem this week, so hopefully that goes well. She made it through rush (thankfully, a pretty low-key experience at her school) and received and accepted a bid for the house she was interested in joining. I have no experience at all with Greek life - I hope it is a positive experience for her. She is also in the throes of figuring out housing for next year. THAT is not at all a low-key experience. Fingers crossed she and her roommate get one of the choices they want, or at the very least, get to stay together.
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Good luck with housing. It can definitely be a stressful time.
D24 is staying with 2 of her suitemates. I don’t know what the 3rd is doing. So they will need a 4th. And I don’t know if they are looking or will just go random on it. I’m glad they are on campus again next year.
She is officially not coming home for spring break. Neither is S22. Both are playing in the pep bands for their college’s basketball teams in the tournaments. Fun times, but strange to think neither will be here. I am going to visit my daughter at least and hope to see my son as well.
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Late last week, D24 & her roommate submitted their housing preferences for next school year.
The weekend visit to TX at the end of this month that DH & his sister were to take is now not going to happen (as I expected it wouldn’t) because DH’s sister waited too long to buy tickets, now the plane tickets are up, so hey how about the following week? Um no, because that’s when D24 is flying home for spring break. 
However, all of that pales in comparison to the shocking news that D24 called us about this evening. Her roommate lost 2 extended family members today in a horrific way (am not going to go into more detail, want to respect privacy of their family). Roommate left this evening to drive home to be with her family. D24 helped her pack & sent an email to the roommate’s professors to inform them of what had happened. Truly devastating situation. D24 said, “I didn’t even know what to say. So I just kept hugging her while she cried.”
I’m glad that the roommate is going to this particular college because I am 100% certain that the professors will engage the student life director, counseling center, and other staff to make sure that D24’s roommate gets whatever support she might need.
D24 talked a lot about grieving, how she thinks it must be extra extra hard to grieve someone’s death when just a week ago, you saw the person at your parents’ house and then in the blink of an eye, they’re not here anymore. She was actually pretty insightful about it all, talked about how fragile life can be sometimes. I’m glad that she & her roommate have become good friends because I think that friendship will make it a little easier when the roommate returns to campus.
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We got a Parents email prompting us to ask about the pending housing deadline, so I did and found out S24 already had his roommate group and they just needed to register by the deadline. Which it appears we would never have known if we had not asked.
All of which is fine, but a little reminder of how his independence is rapidly compounding. Like we still don’t actually know who he is planning to room with, what sort of room they want, or so on. But I guess we don’t really need to know, so . . . .
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S24 has been applying for research fellowships on campus this summer. I’ve been 100% supportive and hopeful for him that it would work out.
He texted overnight that he got one and I’m so thrilled for him. But I also have a pit in my stomach because I don’t think he’s ever coming home for a length of time again.
I know this is what we want for all of our kids - to launch successfully. But now when faced with this reality, I’m feeling a little sad.
I know I’d be sad for him if he hadn’t gotten one, so I’ll get over it…but sniff!
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Weekend visit 
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Yes, but it’s a five hour flight to get to him so not so easy…