<p>S2 (living in off campus dumpy rental house) "Hey Mom, our water pipe burst upstairs last night around midnight. We weren’t home when it happened. One of our friends stopped by our house looking for us. He came across the street where we were hanging out with friends and told us water was running down the walls downstairs in our house! Called our landlord/slumlord. He told me to handle it! Plumbers can’t get here for a couple of days. Don’t worry, our friends across the street said we could use their bathroom for a couple of days!!</p>
<p>D1:“Mommy, don’t panic. Tsunami is going to hit Fiji in 2 hours, and we are fine. Is there anything we should do?”
D1 was on a trip with her friend while studying in Australia.
Me:“What about evacuation?”
D1:“It’s too late.”
Me:“Try to get to a building away from the water.”
D1:“We are at a very nice hotel with water view all around. We are scheduled to go deep sea diving later today (after tsunami hits), I guess we should cancel.”</p>
<p>It was after an earthquake around HI, and luckily Fiji had reefs around the islands to block tsunami waves.</p>
<p>“How can you tell if your nose is broken?” in a very nasal tone. Yes, it was.</p>
<p>Another time, different kid, from kid’s friend at 2-3 AM.</p>
<p>“Hello, Cpt, how are you doing? Your son is fine. Everything is Ok. But can you give me your insurance card info? But everything is fine, honest” </p>
<p>No it wasn’t ok, and involved a run up to the school, no permanent or too serious damages, thank goodness.</p>
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<p>Ha, last summer my 16-year-old son backed out of the garage and into my parents’ rent car from Enterprise. It’s been a nightmare! Our insurance company kept waiting on info from Enterprise so that they could reimburse them. Somebody at Enterprise dropped the ball, and suddenly my parents were getting nasty calls from a collection agency! I have spent a lot of time on the phone. I THINK it’s resolved now, but your post reminds me I should double check…</p>
<p>This is 30 plus years ago. My dear friend was in college and did this to her parents.</p>
<p>Mom…Dad…You know that I’m a good girl. You know I’ve been dating Abner (not his real name) for a few months. I’m trying to decide if we should have sex on Saturday night. (No computer email…this was on the telephone to her parents). What do you think?</p>
<p>“What do Abner’s parents think?”</p>
<p>Feh…he was one of those early achievers…</p>
<p>I have a cousin (eh, I sound like cobrat) who proudly called her mother the day after losing her virginity in college, to tell her mother the big news. And the mother thought it was great that her daughter shared this. When my mother told me this, we both agreed that that did NOT fall under our definition of great-family-news-to-share. If you’re not old enough to know that you don’t discuss your sex life with your mother, you’re not old enough to be having sex. </p>
<p>I’ve been reading the downloaded log of texts between me and D1 from last summer, when she was working in a developing country pretty much halfway around the world from us. A few excerpts:
*I just ate something I think might make me really sick. I didn’t know what it was and now I do someone told me to try it and I didn’t check first that it was ok. What should I do
*I know it’s 3 am there and you won’t see this for a while so don’t worry I’m fine now but respond when you do see this please</p>
<p>*So there apparently have been muggings lately very close to my apartment - just in case something does happen when I am on my way to and from work, what would I do?
*Obviously I would give them valuables in order to not get hurt but then what would I do in the aftermath to get a new computer. Everything is backed up</p>
<p>Where do I start? So many calls …</p>
<p>“Mom, I just dislocated my shoulder. Ski patrol brought me down the mountain in a basket. I was doing tricks on the half-pipe and fell 20 feet.”</p>
<p>“Mom, I just dislocated my shoulder again. I was playing IM basketball. Someone called an ambulance…”</p>
<p>“The urinal pipes burst in the bathroom over my dorm room. Water was pouring into my room & soaked everything. The college moved us into a hotel so that we could study for mid-terms.” (Thank goodness for dorm insurance!)</p>
<p>“I just got out of jail, what should I do?” (arrested for riding a bike across campus)</p>
<p>“I got hit in the head while playing soccer. I think I might have a concussion …”</p>
<p>“I was stalked by mountain lions at the end of my hike. I threw stones at him.”</p>
<p>“I chased a bear away from our campsite. I threw stones at him.”</p>
<p>“I just bought a plane ticket to Nairobi.”</p>
<p>^ I was good with all of the above, until I reached the last one… my first motherly reaction was “WHAT?!”. </p>
<p>I hope it was a good trip :-)</p>
<p>“I threw stones at him” has provided me my first outloud chuckle of the day.</p>
<p>“You know that last half credit I need to graduate? I can’t get the teacher to call me back and schedule.” That worked out.</p>
<p>The other posted in FB, with no warning, about being in a riot, tear gas and all. In this case, posting was good, I knew she was ok. No web in jail. </p>
<p>Some good ones I’ve texted to my mom over the past year:</p>
<p>“Mom, there’s a tornado headed for my apartment”</p>
<p>“I think there’s a school shooter on campus”</p>
<p>“I got in a bike accident, cracked my helmet, and now have a headache. Should I go to health services?”
Followed by: “they think I have a concussion. Will you guys pay for the cab fare?”</p>
<p>12rmh18, your S wasn’t having enough fun at college, so he wanted to go to Nairobi? Or did he want to see what happens when he threw stones at the wildlife there? ;)</p>
<p>If I was at a college where I could get arrested for riding a bike, I’d go to Nairobi too.</p>
<p>From my D, a first-year: “My bike was stolen.” (The second week of classes, and yes, it was locked.)
“I have to tell you about my 8 mile run last night in the dark. Don’t worry, we didn’t get hit, but we had to run in the road because the sidewalks were so icy.”</p>
<p>My favorite ever phone call was when my daughter was 12 or 13… She was at a sleepover and it was midnight. " Hi mom, we’re a little freaked out. We’re walking back home to J’s house now from Rye Playland. It’s pitch black on the road and a few cars have almost hit us. We’re with J’s bother who is crying because he is only 8. We tried to get J’s father to come for us, but he told us to walk because he was too drunk to drive. Oh, and my cell is running out of juice. Bye." Needless to say we were there at practically dawn to pick her up. I had left her off with her friends mother in an apt in NYC. I knew they were going to their summer house in Rye. Mom failed to tell me that the kids were headed over there via Grand Central by themselves to stay with her ex.</p>
<p>I’m fine. Everyone’s fine. But… (they had slid into a ditch, and then were hit, and this wasn’t a phone call; I had to learn this on Facebook with everyone else). </p>
<p>College freshman called at 4AM because she couldn’t sleep…</p>