D22 and D24 haven’t been close since elementary school which makes me sad. It’s definitely easier when only one of them is home. Every once in a while they share a moment that gives me hope that someday they will be closer but I’ve given up on trying to make that happen. Thankfully there is no bad blood between them- it’s just that they’re very different and have a hard time relating to each other.
D24 is living her best life in Portugal taking classes and doing an internship. D22 is starting her first year of PT school (she’s in a 6 yr direct admit program). Up until now she had found college not much more difficult than high school. However, Gross Anatomy this Summer is proving to be just as difficult and time intensive as the older PT students had warned. She is adjusting fine to the workload and it helps a lot that she is completely passionate about the subject matter.
We are just a week away from closing on our house of 21 years in WA and moving cross country to NC. We were waiting on the girls to be settled in their college lives and now husband and I are headed on a new adventure. We are very excited but is is bittersweet saying goodbye to friends and a lovely community. And packing up is an overwhelming process!
D24 left the house at zero dark thirty this morning for day 1 of her 3-week CNA class, which started bright and early at 7 am. She looked all official wearing scrubs! Can’t wait to hear what she thought of day 1 when she gets home later.
Droid1 is in NYC interning for a prof at CCNY, helping run a program aimed at getting underrepresented college kids into research. “Interesting” for them to be doing that as a rising sophomore, advising rising juniors and seniors. I think it’s as much about NYC as it is the internship.
Droid2 is in Madrid taking classes for credit and interning at a data analytics firm. Has already been to Barcelona for the F1 and spent the night in a bar in Madrid watching the league finals (Spain lost) and the Alcaraz match (Alcaraz won in an absolutely epic match). Apparently working very hard.
We’ve moved back to Manhattan ourselves, very happily so. Home is where the heart is!
That is gold! Take the win. During my 20+ years of parenting, I believe that I can count on one hand (maybe 2), the number of times that I’ve heard that sentence cross the lips of any of my children. Actually with my D24 in particular, it is like she is allergic to that combination of words. The best, I ever get from that kid is a grudging “ok, you might not have been totally wrong.” The other kids are slightly more willing to admit that I know what I’m talking about, but even with them, a clear admission that they should have listened to me is still rare.
I honestly have no idea. I don’t have access to her grades (by choice). Hyper-monitoring her grades/gpa is something I happily gave up after high school. I’ve relied on her to tell me how she’s done. She did quite well first semester (all A’s or A-s, I think) and not as well second semester (got her first C and a B-, too). So, I would guess her gpa is somewhere north of 3.0, but really have no idea. That’s for her to manage/worry about (or not).
I’m not sure of S24’s exact gpa although he did get all A/A- grades last year so I assume it is pretty high. I don’t monitor his grades now that he is a college student - he happened to share his grades (probably because he did well), otherwise I wouldn’t know as I don’t have access. I want him to take responsibility for his education now that he is an adult (of sorts).
D24 was very strategic in picking out classes since she wants to go to law school so she asked upper classmen what teachers to take.
Certain teachers have a reputation of not giving out A’s because the business school has a 3.5 GPA curve and so they try to bunch most students in the A-/B+ range.
But she did end up with a 4.0 her first year. And more importantly, she got four A+'s which doesnt affect her GPA (school doesnt recognize A+) but will affect her LSAC GPA when they recalculate it for law school admissions.
My D24 managed a 3.7 her first year while balancing playing two varsity sports (and pledging a sorority). I think the rigors of athletics definitely helped with her time management.
My S24 also did well combining a rigorous version of a premed schedule with two club sports, and I am dead sure that the enforced time management actually helped and not hindered him.
Now, Mrs. Bennet had excellent reasons for her matchmaking schemes and I’m sure you do, too! Just different ones given the different centuries. I co-sign this!
Well–here it is, that watershed in the mother-daughter relationship where in order to make sure that we actually have a future relationship, I have told her that even if I think she’s making a big mistake about some issue or another, I’m not going to give my opinion. She’s now forewarned, and I am certain that I will not be tempted to issue any “I told you sos” later. This has nothing to do with my Mrs. Bennet moment that I mentioned earlier, by the way. I just wish that sophomores in college weren’t the “wise fools” that the term describes!
D24 is enjoying her CNA class. Today they learned how to take patient vital signs, like blood pressure, pulse, etc. Yesterday they learned how to change bed sheets when the patient can’t get out of bed, how to transfer patients in and out of bed safely, and related stuff like that. She’s really enjoying the hands on parts of the class. Week 3 (week after next) are clinicals and those are 6 am-2:30 pm daily, so she’ll be out the door even earlier than she is now.
It’ so great she can do this class. Around here they have to have a high school diploma so D26 can’t get certified before college- many of the nursing schools recommend working as a CNA in high school to beef up their applications but it is not a possibility here. I know yours obviously is in college already but just made me think about my kid who would love to get certified this summer. Oh well, I guess she will wait and do it the summer after freshman year.
D24’s CNA class required a HS diploma and for you to be at least 18. I don’t know about other ones in the area, but this particular program requires you to not be in high school. She’s learned a lot already just in the 1st wk!
S24 finished his freshman year just last week and got his last grade yesterday. Feels like most of the rest of your kids have been done forever!
He’s home for a very short bit before heading back to campus for a research position. Trying to soak in time with him as much as possible.
He had such a great year. It’s wonderful to see him thriving, knowing he’s in the perfect place for him.
He was able to pull off an A in orgo and to overall finish the year with over a 4.0. He’s now quite set that he wants to go to med school.
He’s very involved on campus in many different activities. He’s happy with his friends and now has a boyfriend.
I’m sorry if it this post comes across as bragging. I just think about him today vs 4 years ago, when he tried to take his life because none of the above was even a possibility in his mind. I could never have imagined then that he’d be thriving now.
co-sign this!