<p>Little darlings driving you a little crazy? This is the thread…</p>
<p>Thank GOD our sons were out of town together for the first part of spring break. Had oldest son been here partying with his high school friends all week (“lucky” us, ALL the schools seem to have spring break at the same time) I might have had to kill him.</p>
<p>OK, son managed to get up and start working in the yard for hard cash. YAY!</p>
<p>But still very glad that his time at home is going to be short, and looking forward to when his visits home won’t be “spring break” type visits…</p>
<p>We live in a beach town. They ALL come home for spring break…
On the bright side, my former students have been dropping in to say “hi”…
That’s nice.</p>
<p>Ah, how things change in a few short months. I was so looking forward to having freshman s home for Christmas, and by the end of it I wasn’t sorry to see him go. </p>
<p>He’s not a partier, but he is nocturnal so it’s very weird to have this person wandering out for a bowl of cereal when the rest of us are eating lunch. Most of his friends are not home for break so I think the social scene will be quiet, but it’s hard to get really excited about having him home when I know we’re not going to have a lot of time to interact, given his sleep habits. For me, this is what makes it easier to let him go, because he’s kind of like a really sucky houseguest right now. :)</p>
Ditto. Younger one is on her way to Tennessee with her college habitat for humanity group. We are babysitting her psycho kitty though. That kitty is the sweetest thing on earth at her own small apartment but turns into a psycho at our house. Very strange. I have still got to clean out the travel carrier as the poor little thing gets car sick (even with medication) and puked and pooped (simultaneously) in it. We had driven 50 miles and she contained herself until 1/2 a mile from the house. Sigh. The things we do for our kids.</p>
<p>Older one has never lived here since he 1st started college. He came home for the 1st Christmas and spring break and that was it. He is working for someone doing yard work over the break.</p>
<p>I’m another one venting in the opposite direction: D spent her spring break on the spring training trip. It’s great for her, but boy do we miss her.</p>
<p>D2 got home yesterday afternoon. I got home from work around 6:30. She was napping. H woke her up around 7 for dinner. She ate, was too tired to talk, went right back to bed. Heard her in the kitchen around 1am. </p>
<p>H and I got up this morning. Went to the gym. Got back, did some laundry, puttered about. Left again around noon to run errands. D STILL in bed. We returned around 3. D not home. Will we see her today? Who knows!</p>
<p>Our S is on his way home right now, and he sounded a bit grumpy when he called. He has been sick, so maybe it is either the yucks or the medicine and I have had a hankering to nurse him. It takes three days for him to re-enter our world, become a member of our family pack again, and then we, the parents, resume our own lives next week, not home to enjoy him so much. We take what we can get…!</p>
<p>S2 was here for 2 days, gone to the beach for 5 days, came in late last night and will be heading back to school tomorrow. He was eating Pop-Tarts today at 2:30 when he finally managed to get out of bed. I’m assuming he’ll be back for Easter…am not optimistic about that one either.</p>
<p>Something of a minor miracle in our case. Our first visit to a beach in many years. Both kids keep asking me if it’s canceled yet. Somehow I found enough frequent flyer miles and good deals to be taking all of us to an actual beach this spring break in an area away from the college throngs. So hoping for a nice family get-away. So long since we did this sort of thing. Travel budget seems to get alway spent visiting colleges.</p>
<p>WildChild came home for part of his spring break. He arrived Wednesday evening and leaves tomorrow evening. Thursday night he never came home, but I have “loosened the grip” and that was OK. I knew it meant he had stayed downtown at a friend’s condo instead of being driven home by someone who had been drinking. He didn’t have our car, so I didn’t lose any sleep. The way I refer to having him home is “upsetting the equilibrium” of the household. It’s good to see him and good to put him on the plane to go back! His hours don’t jive with ours, and there are a few other disconnects.</p>
<p>My son’s spring break starts next weekend, and lasts a week. He’s stopping off in Cleveland for a day or two to visit a friend at Case Western before he comes home. </p>
<p>I can’t wait to see him. It’s been almost three months, the longest I’ve ever gone without seeing him in his entire life. I’m hoping to take at least one day off, maybe two, so we can spend some time together. He suggested that maybe we could take a day to drive west to Lambertville (on the western border of NJ) to look at all the antique stores, something I’ve wanted to do for years. And maybe we’ll go into the City to see some of the current exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum, something we’ve done together since he was a toddler and I used to carry him around in a backpack so he could look at the paintings over my shoulder. </p>
<p>My little social one is headed (road trip) to Panama City, FL with a crew from Elon. I’d feel sad but was able to book her a cheap flight to come home for Easter.</p>
<p>I remember my friend telling the story of her brother coming home the first time freshman year and going out getting drunk with some buddies. Then he came home, climbed up in his bunk bed, and managed at some point to throw up on the ceiling–and then the rest of the room. I’m a little phobic about vomit anyway so if that happened we’d probably just have to burn the house down and start over. :)</p>
<p>I probably shouldn’t complain because he was a very easy teenager, and by a lot of standards he’s been an easy college student too. He’s not a partier, so that saves some conflict and worry when he comes home. He’s got two younger brothers, 13 and 9, and they really look up to him so it would be really bad if he were coming home drunk. That said, I guess I’m experiencing what MomOfWildChild said. He is,“upsetting the equilibrium.”
That nocturnal lifestyle just really impedes a lot of interaction with him. He went to a movie with a friend last night and they came back here around 12:30. We went to bed, but I heard the friend leave around 3:30, so that means he probably wasn’t asleep before 4. He’s still sleeping. </p>
<p>It also drives me crazy that nothing is ever planned until the last minute. He may be going to Chicago on Thursday to pick up his girlfriend and bring her here for a few days before break. Then, they may leave Friday, or Saturday, or even Sunday to go back to school. Or he might pick her up Wednesday, come back here for the night, and then drive to Virginia with a friend, in which case they’d return to school from there. So, I may have a houseguest for one night,or possibly four nights. He may be here all week, thereby leaving time to do things like get new contacts etc., or he may need everything done by Tuesday evening. I’m sure there is a zen lesson in all of this. I think I’ll go read Eckhart Tolle to remind myself that I don’t control a damned thing in this universe. :)</p>
<p>Or maybe I should clean in preparation for my theoretical houseguest.</p>
<p>I hated that D2’s spring break was so early this year, because I wasn’t ready for her to go back (she’s already been back a week); then I had to hear about everyone else’s kids coming home, and wished she was with us.</p>
<p>My 2 college kids breaks never coincide…which is actually a good thing, it turns out, lol. After the first break as freshmen, it seems like they have never come home alone since!! My daughter got back on Friday with her boyfriend, but they’re now off to Balt/DC to check out a few things. I can’t wait till they get home, but then I’m not sorry when they leave anymore, lol. My sons break doesn’t start till next week…everyone says his school just marches to the beat of a totally different drummer, lol. They start later in the fall, get lots of breaks, and seem to get out earlier in the spring. This is going to be the first break that he isn’t coming home for…he’s going to the other coast to meet his girlfriends family. I’m sad about not seeing him, but not the way I used to be.</p>
<p>College is a great tool to help moms let go:) We get a taste of a new life, during this 4 yr period…makes it alot easier I think, when they are out on their own…But I’ll check back with you on that next year!</p>