<p>Just curious if any of you parents made an specific plans after you drop your kid off the college in late august. Maybe that much needed vacation or starting a project that you put off.<br>
H and I are trying to get a few days to ourselves away alone. Something we haven’t done in 17 years. This I hope will ease the transition from crazy household to somewhat of a quiet one. I will miss my D, but I looking forward to some peace and quiet. I hope I am not talking too soon.</p>
<p>Drink heavily. :)</p>
<p>I wish… I get to rush home and take my summer quarter finals. If I had the time, I’d rent a car and and go visit friends and relatives who still live back East.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I’ve been drinking heavily these last few weeks.;)</p>
<p>We aren’t dropping her off - she’s going crosscountry by herself, and it’s no big deal.</p>
<p>I’m coming home and cleaning out her room. Anything left behind that is not boxed, in a drawer, or neatly in the closet is getting dumped. It might take awhile but I’m really excited about seeing the floor in there again.</p>
<p>It was very sad when we were left alone. Then D. refused to go on vacation with us, stating that she missed her HS friends too much. So, it was a little strange during vacation also, my H and I constantly mentionning how much she would love it there, but she is not going with us this year either for the same reason. Well, I decided to find a new hobby and was fortunately successful at this. My H started watching more TV and caring his tiny laptop everywhere - it worked for him. Thank goodness, both of us work full time. No change in drinking habits - the same daily intake in moderation. I can tell that we adjusted well. I wish the same to you!</p>
<p>zoeydoggie, i thought my D was the only one with no visible floor. I don’t even know what the rug looks like under there. Or if it is even still there.</p>
<p>In my D’s room you also cannot see the floor. Shoes, clothes and towels everywhere. Can you imagine what their dorm rooms are going to look like? Guess it really can’t be any worse.</p>
<p>When we get back from dropping her off, I plan to do a thorough cleaning of her room and then start searching for some good seafood and extremely spicy recipes (something D would never eat, but my h and I will enjoy).</p>
<p>We are dropping ours off at the airport, too. He’s doing a gap year program abroad. I would love to follow Consolation’s plan, but I’m on a low-carb diet. Might have to abandon it temporarily. ;)</p>
<p>Immediate plans? Move the ironing board into her room instead of mine. (It’s permanently up) Later plans? Probably trying to get her younger brother to take homework as seriously as he takes his video game.</p>
<p>Vistiting elderly relatives the next state over.Should be quite a contrast.</p>
<p>I can’t believe that Ds use the floor as permanent shelving…I thought only Ss did that!</p>
<p>Cleaning his bathroom was a project in itself, last year.</p>
<p>Texasmama, as soon as you figure out that whole homework-video game thing, patent it. There will be no tuition woes or retirement worries if you can market that.</p>
<p>I’m dropping mine off at the airport and will no doubt have a good cry once I’m walking away. My goal is to keep it together till then. My youngest will be returning that day from a week-long trip. I’m glad he will be back. The good news is during that transition time my oldest will call home lots. He has gone away for summer programs before and found that calling me to tell what all had gone on was a good way for him to process it all himself. So, I know I’ll have lots of updates as he adjusts, and also look forward to when he only calls once a week as that will mean he’s all settled in.</p>
<p>Rumor has it he will leave a clean room. Like Elizabeth, I’ll be doing some more adventurous cooking. My youngest is much better about trying new things.</p>
<p>I won’t be cleaning her room - she is a bit of a neat freak and completely different from me - so maybe I will clean my own room. </p>
<p>I plan to go straight from school to a visit with my parents who live in the same state as the school. Yes, I am delaying returning to an empty house - it is not going to be easy.</p>
<p>After one day home to pack our stuff H and I are off on vacation for a week. Going to our usual late summer lakeside idyll, but without D, I’m expecting to feel weird; our first “empty-nester” vacation!</p>
<p>Augh…I’m getting wooshy.</p>
<p>it is not going to be easy
- It is not easy! Particularly, for someone who does not clean, cook, cut grass, gardenning, hates TV, reading, shopping, going to movies, no relatives in whole country, besides kids and grandkids far away. But my H & I are surviving, and so will you! But it is not easy…</p>
<p>We only have one child so you wouldn’t think that it would be terribly hectic when the D heads off but her packing process does tend to take over the house. Whenever she leaves - even now that she is in grad school rather than undergrad - her father and I go to our favorite Chinese restaurant with a good bottle of wine and make a toast to the return of our peaceful little lives…even though we love having her around.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, I did not get terribly emotional after we left her at school freshman year. She had been a pain all summer and I was happy to see her go. I was extremely sad when she left after her December break. She came home having temporarily gotten over her need to separate and was a pleasure to have around. Her Dad and I were both a bit mushy at her departure.</p>
<p>Post undergrad is definitely weird. I still expect to be a parent and short of the very occasional pep talk, I am done.</p>
<p>After finishing parent/student orientation at S’s school in D.C., my wife and I are going to a B&B in Virginia for a couple of days and take in the Shenandoah Valley. Then it’s home to the PB&J dinners for the next 4 years</p>