<p>A week after dropping him at school, you stand in the grocery line behind a dad and his young son discussing what first grade will be like, and have to turn away so you don’t cry.</p>
<p>The cat leaves a dead chipmunk as a “gift” on the back doormat, and hubby is out of town, and college-son isn’t there to remove the carcas to the woods.</p>
<p>You get excited when you see his friends’ parents, and they get excited to see you, because now you can talk about your kids!</p>
<p>You check your younger kids’ AIM buddy list to see college-kid’s away message, and read their profile.</p>
<p>(Nikrud, vulture3 and Splashmom - love your entries!)</p>
<p>All great entries. I’ve got tears in my eyes reading them, especially vulture3 and Splash “the first grader story.” D2 is coming home on Sat. can you tell I miss her?</p>
<p>Well, I hope you people are proud of yourself. And here, I’ve been so good. Excuse me while I go get a Kleenex, thank you very much. We leave tomorrow right after D2 gets out of high school for the day to drive the 7 hrs for parents’ weekend. We are all so excited to see each other! And D1 told me how happy she’ll be, not only to see us, but also to get her long-sleeved fall/winter clothes. It finally looks like seasonal temperatures are on their way in.</p>
<p>you know you miss your kid when the people at the post office know what you are sending her in those flat rate boxes, know HER name, and go, oh to the Bronx again</p>
<p>and you know you miss her when your D wants to see a movie on a Sunday afternoon and has noone to go with- that was a ritual for the two sisters</p>
<p>H and I agree to go out for the day to get away from the house and all the equivalent reminders of your bobby pins on floor, rubber bands, etc.</p>
<p>Conversation alternates between kid topic and non-kid topic, like ping pong and I think, “We’re making progress, this is good…”</p>
<p>We stop for ice cream out and I see the freezer full of birthday ice-cream cakes and tear up, “we’ll never have one of those birthday parties again until there are grandkids and that looks l0 years away…” </p>
<p>H bites his lip, “I should have painted that dollhouse with her, I shouldn’t have been too busy…”</p>
<p>We’ll try again next week. It’s a l2 step program.</p>
<p>Yeah, the ladies at the PO are starting to recognize me… they pull out a new flat rate box without me asking. Miss Sylvia (at window 2) told me that I wouldn’t believe how many parents do the same thing. She says she calls them Flat Rate Care Package boxes.</p>
<p>So - last week I told D1 about the cute package for her freshman sister. 24 year old sighs and says that sounds fun. Drat - dash to store for more cheap goodies and back in line at the PO…I guess you aren’t too old for care packages until you are a parent yourself.</p>
<p>You know you miss your kid when you are hoping for bad weather for the weekend so son and his friends stay another day before camping for fall break. Not that I’m not happy that he’s doing things with friends but hanging out here and feeding the crowd would be kind of fun, for just a little bit!</p>
<p>What do you put in the care packages? In the past, I’ve sent $3.00 bags of trail mix and candy, only to pay $15 in shipping costs because they were so heavy. I finally figured out that was dumb. . . . </p>
<p>So what do you mail them that’s not expensive to mail??</p>
<p>veryhappy, you can get flat rate boxes, which are a bit less (around $9 ea., I think). I just sent some clothes which my son requested, and I did not use flat rate bc the boxes were too small. It was heavy and it cost 10.75 to mail. I have cut back on sending care packages bc my son has Walmart within walking distance, so unless I baked for him, it is kind of silly. The other day he requested a computer part that was at home, so that got mailed to him.</p>
<p>Just found out about flat rate boxes $8.95 no weight limit. The boxes come in two sizes/shape and are “free”. The rule is the box has to maintain it’s shape and be able to be closed.</p>
<p>Just sent a ton of cookies and grandma threw in a zuccini cake. Still had room to spare. It’s a pretty good deal.</p>
<p>And, though I have mentioned it before, bags of M&Ms, trail mix, marshmallows, etc. are great packing material to put around other, larger items.</p>
<p>I saved a voice mail message on our land line of my daughter singing “Happy Birthday” to me - IT’s almost two years old now I refuse to hit delete.</p>
<p>^^^Yes, I had a funny message in my cell-phone voice mail that I kept re-saving so it wouldn’t be deleted! It was only after S returned for the summer and I had played it for him that I deleted it.</p>
I refuse to hit delete.</p>