<p>“zoosermom, that just breaks my heart! I know, freshman year is so tough”</p>
<p>ZG just left after having been home since Friday night and still looks so awful from the food poisoning. She’s down 13 pounds since she started school six weeks ago and is still gray. I can’t wrap my brain around not seeing her again till Thanksgiving. I offered her a BMW if she stayed home and went to community college. She said no. sigh.</p>
<p>39 days until Thanksgiving vacation. Not that anyone is counting!</p>
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<p>I couldnt’ agree more. And he NEVER emails, but I still check!</p>
<p>ZM, wow, she lost 13 pounds from that food poisoning! That is a lot of weight to lose so quickly. Has everyone else recovered? I remember reading your post about everyone who attended that meeting at the restaurant getting so sick. I can understand why you offered her the BMW to commute.</p>
<p>Astrophysicsmom,
I can completely relate! We go visit D1 Oct.26 and D2 will be home this weekend. She called an hour ago and has a really bad cold. Maybe I just feel bad that I can’t do anything to really comfort her. At least she has used the thermometer and cold medicine that we bought her and even thanked me for making her take it!
zooserman, 12 pounds! I’d be so worried.</p>
<p>My daughter just left this morning after her fall break.</p>
<p>What gets me is the cereal. There’s a brand of cereal that she likes but that my husband and I can’t stand. I bought a box, of course, before she came home. Tonight, I will be throwing out the unused portion. No point in keeping it. It would be stale by Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>“ZM, wow, she lost 13 pounds from that food poisoning! That is a lot of weight to lose so quickly. Has everyone else recovered? I remember reading your post about everyone who attended that meeting at the restaurant getting so sick. I can understand why you offered her the BMW to commute.”</p>
<p>One of the kids is still pretty sick, but most are on the path to recovery. The incident was in the newspapers and on the tv news there, so it was a big deal. Of course, it didn’t get as much coverage as the girl who was stabbed on the campus last week. I will have pulled out all my hair by Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>I have been checking the school’s website daily to see the dining hall menus and I try to figure out what he may be eating!</p>
<p>Last year’s girlfriend emails to ask if I’ll give her a few tips on applying to college.
(I said yes.)</p>
<p>His room has been clean for almost 6 weeks now…I buy a quart of milk and some of it still remains past the due date. I check my email too all the time just in case he decides to contact us. Not that I am counting but only 3 more days until fall break…</p>
<p>zg, No wonder you want to bribe her with a BMW! To think that I was upset tonight bc my son sent an email about a computer problem that is going to cost $100. Well, this puts things into perspective.</p>
<p>When I walk by the frozen vegetarian food section and there is her “favorite” quick dinner… one left in the deep freeze at home. Almost started crying in the grocery store… definately a trigger item…</p>
<p>. . . I call his girlfriend’s mother, hoping she has more news than I do.</p>
<p>awww, you guys! :(</p>
<p>I thought I was doing so well…</p>
<p>The worst time I had is when we dropped my s off, the first college kid. On the way home, at a rest stop heading back to the car, I see a dad holding the hand of his 5 year old walking up the way… </p>
<p>Probably needed a sign on my back, just dropped first kid at college…</p>
<p>I can’t bring myself to pick up the last stray bobby pin (D always managed to scatter these all over the house-her failed attempts to control her fabulously wild blonde locks). It sits in the corner at the bottom of the stairs. I think of her everytime I see it. I vacuum around it. Oh wait-it isn’t the last one; found another in the family room yesterday. </p>
<p>Anyway, the one by the stairs stays for now.</p>
<p>First year S#1 was gone, his running shoes sat by the front door until he came home and moved them. Both parents were content to leave them there.</p>
<p>I see a small plastic giraffe that came from a kid’s meal. For the past three or so years, DD and I have been passing it back and forth. It would suddenly appear under my pillow and then she would find it in her purse or in her car. It’s been traded back and forth a lot. When we returned from helping her move in at the beginning of this semester, I found it resting atop my computer monitor. I recently enclosed it in a care package we sent her. It’s just a fun little “I’m thinking of you!” Yay, she’s coming home tonight for fall break!</p>
<p>Re: The bobby pins - I have found orthodontic rubber bands on my floors every so often for years after my kids braces were removed!</p>
<p>LOL. I can absolutely relate to the bobby pins and ortho rubber bands, they seem to breed, and continue to now even tho both girls are gone. I wore D2’s abandoned Northface last night to walk the dog - oh God, the smell of her brought tears to my eyes. Shampoo, suntan lotion, and that iota of sweat that used to keep me smelling their sweet little baby heads! Then I put my hands in the pocket and found a slip of paper. Opened it up and it was a note ‘excusing her absence’ with my signature that was very clearly NOT my signature from last April. I laughed so hard. (Although had I found this last year…not so funny!) Leaving on a 9 am flight tomorrow to see her in Seattle. I cannot even take a full breath today. Even tho she is so happy, and I am so happy for her, I still feel her absence every single day. Just saw D1 last wknd for parents wknd, which was great, but after 4 yrs, I have become accustomed to her absence. She is flying into Seattle for the wknd to be with us too. No wonder I can hardly breathe!!!</p>
<p>I went in S1’s room today and found two random socks from the last time he was here. I used to spend my life trying to keep track of his socks. </p>
<p>S1 will roll in around midnight tonight for his Fall break. He is the unfortunate one who has a 6-9pm class on the day before Fall Break begins. He is a jr. so I am pretty used to him being gone but this time, he’s been gone since June which is the longest we’ve ever gone without seeing him. I took a little nap this afternoon after work in hopes that I can hold my eyes open tonight until he walks in tonight.</p>