<p>College students return home as the swallows do to Capistrano.</p>
<p>WashDadJr is home from his freshman year, having lost 10 pounds, grown some stubble that might be a beard some day, and acquired some new language habits of which WashMom thoroughly disapproves. He sleeps until noon, spends most of his time playing computer games or hanging with friends, and still hasn’t unpacked after two weeks home. It’s so nice to have him here!</p>
<p>(We think we know where the weight loss came from. WashMom and I are pretty sure he had a bout of depression in March and April when his girlfriend dumped him. Hard. We knew he had spent hours on the phone with us during this time, but were quite surprised that he’d visited the school’s counseling center, too. It was more than just “getting over it.”)</p>
<p>Following ancient traditions, I managed to get him an internship at my employer for the summer, where he will be the personal slave of our software QA manager. He is actually getting a pretty cool project, doing testing on SQL 2008 and earning about twice what he did last summer for flipping burgers. It’s a much better summer job than I ever had.</p>
<p>TallSon is not home from anywhere – he’s a sophomore in high school – but he is pleased that he is now five inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than his older brother. WashDadJr isn’t backing down, but freely admits, “Of COURSE he could pound me. He’s a lot bigger than I am.” TallSon remains extraordinarily busy, acting in two plays, directing a third, and participating in a competition robotics team.</p>
<p>Last night the four of us spent two hours playing 12 holes of Nintendo Wii golf. It was great.</p>
<p>S is also back, looking like a scarecrow, thin as a rake. He is trying to spend down the $40 on his food allowance by Friday, so perhaps he’ll gain some weight.</p>
<p>He’s starting his summer job next in two weeks. It sounds cool, though the commute doesn’t. Oh, his chum is also staying with us, as his summer job is also in town. I’d had a hard time adjusting to cooking for 2 instead of 3 or 4. So I’m quite happy to have the house occupied again. So, indeed they’re baaaack!!!</p>
<p>That’s good news from a parents perspective. I’d much rather have 'em go than not go. I think parents should point out these resources to their kids as they send 'em off to college just to put it in the back of their minds that it’s available.</p>
<p>WashDad, that was a heartwarming mind picture! It may seem like a small thing now, but the whole family playing Wii golf plants memories that will be cherished in future years.</p>
<p>I’m glad WashDadJr. has survived his heartbreak, and is back home where he can be nurtured. I’m sure he’ll gain back that ten pounds, and perhaps more, before the summer is out. It’s great that you were able to get him such a great summer internship.</p>
<p>My D just graduated from college, and is back home for a bit. She’s feverishly looking for employment, complicated by the fact that she does not actually have a driver’s license:eek: She’s had a valid learner’s permit since high school, but has just been too busy with academics and extra curriculars to bother with completing the process (yeah, dumb. I know). She’s enrolled in driving school now, and will be burning as much gas as we can afford, getting behind the wheel experience in the next few weeks. We’re also looking at used cars. This behind the eight ball feeling she, as well as her Dad and I are feeling is nuts!</p>
<p>WashDad,
Good for WashSonJr to get help when he needed it. Folks can be stubborn about getting help sometimes. </p>
<p>I fear for S1 if he loses ten pounds at college – he is so dang skinny already!
S2 is 5" taller and double S1’s weight. One has the size, the other has cunning and no fear. I thin it’s a draw. ;)</p>
<p>Yeah, they’re back. The tops to the milk and oj are gone, if any milk and oj is even left. Have to watch for socks when I vacum, as we have done serious damage already with undigested socks. Towels on the floor, laundry thrown into the laundry room. The vampires are back.</p>
<p>LOL here. DS is not coming home but for two weeks in August. Yesterday three of his buddies that just got home came by our office to say hi…I started grilling them on when they were going to get summer jobs…then called DS to tell him his buddies were here and that I missed him…sniff.
Then again, there is milk and oj in my fridge and no dirty socks!</p>
<p>^^^^ Just came back from buying milk and OJ! DS is off job-hunting again. The store he worked at last year has closed. He dropped off some applications last week, and after 3 days of my nagging he is finally returning to those stores to follow up on them. (“Mom, what do I say? Why am I doing this?” Me: "You ask for the manager and say, “I dropped off an application last week and I’m just following up on it. Are you still hiring? etc.”) When he gets home from what I fear will be a fruitless trip - this economy stinks, especially for teen job-seekers - he will be put to use tutoring 10th grade sister, whose Algebra II Honors teacher had a health crisis and is missing the last month of the year. D is panicking about the final…</p>
<p>Yes, she is home…not sure but I think it is going to be a LONG summer!! D #1 ( after finishing her first year) has been home for a month and has worked about 5 days total, sleeps until 10, watches alot of TV and thenis out until midnight or later. I am going insane…am glad she is home but frustrated that she is not working more. She actually has two jobs…one at a assisted living facility (where she has worked since a HS sophomore ) as a food server (she works maybe 10-12 hours a week there) and another at a country club driving the golf cart and bringing food and drinks out to the golfers. She is supposed to be working there 3 10 hour shifts a week but is still in training. I just found out that she told them she could not work on weekends…her reason (now this is my guess) is because her boyfriend does not work on weekends and she wants to spend time with him. Needless to say we just had a long (and heated) discussion about this and she has just called the club to say she is available whenever they need her.<br>
She just does not get that this is the only money she will have for spending next year at school! Aargghh…</p>
<p>S is home and, bucking the weight loss trend here, asked to have the buttons on his jeans moved over an inch to make the waist <em>larger.</em> This is good news, as this kid has always weighed about 130 pounds dripping wet. He is back into working out and suddenly into healthy eating in a big way. Mom and Dad are hoping this is not a passing fancy.</p>
<p>He is back at his same internship as last year, which is good in that they wanted him back (yay!), not so good in that he had hoped for something in a (different) tech firm that is a little more directly in his area of interest… But those folks only started replying to his overtures when he already needed to make the commitment to job #1. There are worse problems, and all in all, it’s good.</p>
<p>His room looks normal - clothes filed on the floor so that only the perpetrator can tell which are the clean and which are the dirty.</p>
<p>Now on to the important elements in this thread: there is Wii golf??!? I only knew about the bowling, boxing, baseball and what was that other one? Must investigate.</p>
<p>S is home but we’ve barely seen him.He is doing a Sports Management Internship (6 credits plus stipend) for a MInor League Baseball Team and has worked day and night since the day after he arrived home.Even with the stipend it just about amounts to free labor for the # of hours. I provide clean khakis and staff shirts and coffee in the morning (to go!).At least he’s not locked in his room with the laptop LOL.He hasn’t even had time to see the Indy Jones movie.
Lafalum…for what its worth…tell your S to follow up on those job apps…My best friend manages retail stores that hire lots of young kids and she routinely favors the kids who come back to inquire about their applications.Thats been her strategy for many many years.If the kids dont follow up she doesnt call them.
And for all…we ordered the Wii Fit console for us old ones to use with S’s Wii…its yoga,balance games,aerobics,etc. set it up last night…its fun!!</p>
<p>Anyway, I haven’t gone home either summer during college so far, and don’t intend to at all. It’s only an hour away, and I’ve got a great on-campus job where I can pull in 40 hours/week doing something that’s fun and enjoyable. At home I’d be working in the same old retail store I worked at for two years in high school, and I have nightmares just thinking about going shopping there these days. Not to mention the freedom to do as I please and nobody pestering me to “get off my butt” when I have the day off and watch movies on the couch all day.</p>
<p>D1 is also baaacckkk! She started work on Tuesday but doesn’t go in until 9:30. So far she gets up earlier to jog and then heads in to work. She also works for a baseball organization. When home her place is firmly established on the couch in charge of the remote which causes much uproar with D2. I am also cooking more than ever…maybe I should try to jog with her!!!</p>
<p>S2 is back after graduating on Monday. He will work with DH for a few weeks until S1’s wedding in June then he heads back to start grad school. He was even kind enough to help me with the assembly of the 200 wedding favors. He is still on a strange sleep schedule but having to get up at 5:30 am to go to work is killing it. Many of his things are still sitting in the living room but hey, I can deal with it. He’s not going to be home for long…I miss him already :)</p>
<p>Oldest son is on the plane as I type…will see him soon! He’ll be here for a few weeks and then off for 4 weeks and back home for 3. Middle son is here for 2 more days (will overlap with big bro for 2) before he is off for his summer internship/research in Boston/Harvard (will be near you Marite!). He’ll be back for the same last 3 weeks when his brother returns. Middle sis met up with her sibs for the past 2 weeks on the OTHER coast and is on her way back to school for the summer for her work/research that she does through out the year and sport’s practice. But…she will also be here the last 3 weeks.</p>
<p>Of course all their respective buddies will be joining them those last 3 weeks so we will have a houseful!! Its what I have been looking forward to since Christmas. I do have this week with the majority of my kittens but am too excited for August!!!</p>
<p>Mine haven’t lost/found any extra weight they just look and sound much, much older. Sigh.</p>
<p>At least they all let me think I am still the boss. They make all the plans, the decisions (and big ones about the family) and after all “their” discussions they ask, “Is that okay Mom?” Nice, but we all know they are just being polite.</p>
<p>And to think I miss the days when they ALWAYS needed me to find their lost mittens.</p>
<p>S-2 is back. I think this is like having a Dad help a freshman find a summer internship: S unearthed a sales opportunity that involves selling knives, and the network he’ll use is our congregation (dad’s a clergy). S figured he’s got a built-in network of people with whom to schedule appointments. He only gets paid hourly for the time he’s actually in someone’s home, selling knives. He gets paid more if he actually sells a knife.</p>
<p>I think S could sell things. When people ask his dad why God doesn’t treat them better, my H first quips, “Don’t ask me; I’m in sales, not management”
(and then really tries to offer them kind-hearted counsel, of course). </p>
<p>Either way, I hope they have the equivalent of golf together, which in our family will probably look like the son and father bidding together on ebay.</p>
<p>Here’s to our prodigal sons, who have returned!!</p>
<p>and to our prodigal daughters – though I’ve not heard much about LOST weight. For all those skinny sons out there… my D and her friends FOUND what you lost. So lots of time jogging. I currently have a household of friends visiting from college… and so far they’ve managed to elude me, so I haven’t found out the real story of freshman year. Still, great to have the energy back.</p>
<p>cathymee, he went back to 3 stores. One said they’re probably not hiring, one said he’d give S’s name to the supervisor, and one said they’re probably running a background check which takes a couple days. I don’t buy the third story, as I don’t think they run a check until they’re pretty sure they want to hire you. Meantime the Footlocker store WAS hiring, but the application is laying on his desk because he doesn’t want to wear the referee shirt. Also doesn’t want to work in a restaurant or food establishment. Applied to 2 grocery stores online but didn’t go in person to follow up there. I have the name of a temp agency person who got my friend’s son a job, but S won’t call till next week because he’s “waiting to hear back on these jobs.” I have nagged until my face is blue but the “you don’t have to wait to hear back” message is NOT getting through. </p>
<p>This is compounded by D, age 16, who doesn’t want to babysit because she “doesn’t like kids enough to spend my Saturday night watching them.” I understand her not having a regular job - she’s got so much EC stuff (sports camps, dance camps, volunteering to coach little kids, etc) this summer that she’s only got about 3 “free” weeks anyway. But babysitting is a job you can take or turn down, and it’s $10/hour with no taxes. Until she puts a sign up at the dance studio offering to babysit, she will not see one red cent in spending money from me!</p>
<p>Both kids are going to an amusement park this weekend. I hope they have some cash of their own because I AM NOT PAYING.</p>
<p>We have solved the “clothes and stuff on the floor” problem as we speak - and Rosie vacuums!<br>
And tonight had the epitome of relaxed family dinners - never even made it to the table. JUst sat on the counters (I know… but I tried to enforce no-counter-sitting as a rule years ago but that just made it into the thing they did after I went to bed and all the philosophy discussions were without me) and debated oil prices and markets and finances and majors and the future of the world while we ate linguinni. It’s so nice to have the young minds home again!</p>