Note to kiddos - no, don’t leave stuff stored in the basement of your rental property over the summer unless it is packed in a plastic tub or other airtight container. S24 found this out the hard way and had to throw away his toiletry bag, a backpack and some sneakers because they were covered in mold.
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NiceUnparticularMom is back from driving with S24 to St Louis. Apparently move-in was easy, and his single was bigger than expected, so we are now shopping online for a robust but not overly expensive convertible sofa he can add (his “suite” doesn’t really have a common area, more of a wide corridor connecting four singles and two bathrooms).
Meanwhile, our dog is visibly depressed he is gone. I feel you, puppy. The energy level is definitely different.
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Maybe it’s just me but Im thrilled that D24 is so happy to go back on campus and connect with her friends and professors.
Sure, it’s nice to have her home but I’d rather have her living her best life at a place she absolutely loves, knowing she navigated the process well, mostly by herself.
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In late-breaking news, apparently S24 figured out he could in fact do Orgo this year and still do everything else he wanted to do, so that is being swapped for Physics. He is relieved because the other pre-meds he is close with either took it over the summer or are taking it this year.
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D24 flew back to school by herself this weekend and is very happy to be back with her roommate and several of her other close friends also are up early for campus jobs/leadership roles, so I’m glad she has people to be with. I feel a little guilty that we just sent her off on her own, but she is very independent and doesn’t really like us messing with her stuff/helping with setup.
S24’s school had a scare yesterday. There was a report of an active shooter at the school library that ultimately turned out to be an inaccurate report. There was a kid entering the library with what turned out to be an umbrella that he was holding in a way that it resembled a rifle, and there also was a loud bang in the library that must have sounded like a gunshot. Rumors started flying through campus and then a second person was seen with an umbrella that was also mistaken for a gun. This was very upsetting and scary for the students, but the school did a fantastic job sending out an alert and sending in law enforcement. It’s a relief it was a false report, but my son was pretty rattled even though he was safe in his off campus apartment. I hate it that campus shootings are a reality.
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Convertible sofa successfully ordered. Turns out the main criteria were it have enough weight capacity for seated club sports’ friends, then be long enough for taller club sports’ friends to “sleep” on.
I’ll be interested to see if it actually survives the year . . . .
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That is so scary about the active shooter reporter. For all the students.
I sent my S24’s off on planes back to school by themselves too–they are super independent (though not necessarily competent at times as the sheet incident proves). I told them this means I will be visiting campus later this fall. Not for parents’ weekend, but I’ll go on a quieter one–assuming that happens. This fall will be busy with D26’s college applications. She is independent too, which means it’s sometimes hard for me to figure out where she is in the process.
Anyone here have siblings at the same college? She is considering this for ED1! They would be two years apart and he’d be on his semester abroad her first year (of she was accepted of course).
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D26 is thinking about it. We’re hoping it happens but we think she’s a little leery of going to the same school since it’s not that big and she’d constantly be compared to her older sister.
This happened throughout HS - same teachers etc.
D24 was salutatorian and D26 will either be salutatorian or valedictorian - not sure if D26 felt like she had to keep up the same level as older sister.
I can understand why she’d pick somewhere different but we think it’d be a great fit for her - but we’re going to let her make the decision.
We’ll see.
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A long time ago but my brother and I went to the same college. He did ask if I would be OK with it before he applied ED which I appreciated. The college was fairly large and our majors were housed in opposite sides of campus so we pretty much only saw each other when we made plans to meet.
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D24 is now in her third week of school (thanks, Southern school calendar!), and is finding things to do. Today, she and a male friend are going to the casting call for the student fashion magazine. They’re doing it for kicks even though they technically have model-like proportions. The magazine features people who look more normal and diverse than models, so who knows how they pick their people? D24 also got a job waiting tables at a country club near the school–the job doesn’t start yet, so she has a good amount of time to adjust to her class schedule. I worry about her, but she seems to be doing pretty well. I also worry about Gen Z in general, because they seem so gossipy in their social media ways (YikYak, anyone?). I don’t think it does them any good in terms of their mental health, and I hope they all figure out how to function without constant attention to other people’s BS.
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S24 is definitely in nesting mode. Constant flurry of storage things being ordered to tuck in every nook and cranny.
I think he is also going to class . . . .
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Mine went to different high schools but they’d be in the same overall department at the school, but with different concentrations. So this is something for me to think about. The competition piece. Thanks for that heads up. It is a potential concern. The older one is a stealth talent at the thing the younger one was always recognized for….and that proved tricky in his last year at home before college. Hmmm….do I want to make life more difficult for myself?! 
Then again they would be many states away…
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S26 is planning on joining S22 next year and for the same major. S22 will just have one year left for his master’s, so a short time. But they hopefully will both be in the marching band and they play the same instrument! Overall, S22 is fine with it, but I’m sure he’s not thrilled to pieces, lol.
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Any advice on how to break it to your college student that 1 of the family pets is dying and you’re gonna have to euthanize?
This is one of the parts of adulting that just REALLY SUCKS!
We have 2 cats. The one who’s dying is 17 1/2 yr old. Her time is soon coming to an end. Isn’t keeping food down, is acting really weird, pretty sure her body is shutting down. It’s time.
Gonna have to make an appointment to take her in. This just SUCKS!
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We ended up bringing both kids home when we found out we had to put down our dog. They had seen him a month before but it was still hard. My son drove but for my daughter it was a $700 expenditure. There was a lot of crying.
But they were at the house when we had to put the special little guy down. These kids have grown up with these pets so they are like family.
I think it would have been worse if they didn’t get to say goodbye.
If you’re not planning to bring them home, maybe a facetime? It’s not easy either way but I do think it’s nice to give them a last visitation and hug.
17.5 years - that’s a great run - I hope it goes well…it’s not easy for any of us. They are our friends and relatives.
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Definitely not bringing D24 home. Will definitely do Facetime with the cat. I appreciate the suggestions!
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Almost always with very sad news at pretty much any age, it seems like a good practice to get straight to the point as quickly as possible (although it is OK to start with a brief, “I have some sad news” or such), and then be very direct in answering any questions.
It does, and of course that is also something to acknowledge plainly. People need to go through the process of feeling grief, and I think sometimes people are trying to be comforting, but inadvertently it comes across as trying to rush someone into feeling better right away. So a simple, “this sucks and it is OK to feel that way,” may actually be the best one can do.
For people who share the loss of a loved one (really both people and pets), one thing that does tend to help is just talking about good memories. In a way you are reminding each other that the good of their lives continues on through those of you who loved them and will remember them. But it is not so much about saying that sort of philosophical thing as actually just doing the remembering.
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on a positive note, I finally got around to purchasing the plane tickets for D26 & I to fly into Dallas in October so we can visit D24 and go on a tour of Univ of Tulsa for D26. D24 doesn’t have any classes the day of the tour, so she’s going to come with us.
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Happy Labor Day, everyone!
We have been invited over to friends, and because they are GOOD friends, they have suggested we bring over both wine and a cocktail. I believe I am going to go with my version of a French Blonde (rumors I chose this cocktail because it is reportedly Taylor Swift’s favorite are vicious and unfounded, mostly).
Traditionally it is made with gin, grapefruit juice, elderflower liqueur, Lillet Blanc, and lemon bitters. But I use my homemade basil-lemon bitters, and then vodka instead of gin (too much botanticals for me to combine the basil in my bitters and gin).
I also use Deep Eddy Ruby Red grapefruit vodka instead of grapefruit juice. Normally I am not a flavored vodka person, but this is a personal favorite. And what it does is make a prettier, and frankly more boozey, French Blonde (I note there is a joke in that description that I am FAR too civilized to make).
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I’m assembling a care package for my daughter and her apartment roommate today–the theme is “world travelers,” because I think they are both feeling a little trapped in the state of Georgia. No judgment on Georgia, but they grew up there! So far I’ve assembled Japanese seaweed (for constipation!), Peruvian chocolate, Italian cookies, and a Japanese manga book for the roommate. I’m going to the dollar store for blinking lights to hang–I’d better come up with some international-themed ones. Then the used bookstore should provide some goodies. They have quirky toys, too. This is really fun!
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