Parents of College Class of 2018 (A.K.A., "Is this the line to the poor house?")

[mom2rtk]

And our cat who hangs out with him alot is still upset he left and is moping around barely leaving his room. I hope she feels better soon - poor kitty.

Last year my son's cat took up residence on a suitcase laying in the living room when he left. And I kid you not, he only left that suitcase to eat or use the cat box for at least 2 months! Then one day.... off he went. Never to return to the suitcase. There was so much cat hair embedded in the fabric of that suitcase I had to throw it out!

The funny part is that he has been back home all summer, and the cat seems not to care! I'll be curious to see how he handles the departure again in a week.

 

[njmom47]

Ds's best friend left last week and was very homesick. Friend's mom said he missed my son terribly. She also said my ds went to visit her to commiserate as he misses his friend too. I thought that was so sweet of my son. I also told ds that his father (my dh) is going to be lost without ds here, moreso than me.

 

[sk!mom]

We moved DD in yesterday. I did fine- no tears. My 3 days prior of crocodile tears apparently were enough. The weekend was fun. My last tears came Saturday night... The hotel only had a room left with a king and a fold out sofa. As we were having dinner DD says, "I have an idea, how about dad takes the pull out and I snuggle in with you?" Sucked to be DH that night

Sunday was busy and exhausting as we unloaded in the rain. I should have taken before pictures of her room as I'm pretty sure there are more appealing prison cells. When we were done, it looked so cute and comfortable. I'll post a couple of pics tonight.

DD texted a precious thank you last night for all our work.

DH and I left her at 2:30, made the 4 hour drive home, and popped the cork on a bottle of champagne.

All the way home, We discussed what we should take back family weekend next month to make her room perfect but at least I wasn't crying. Baby steps people!

 

[PrincessKsMom]

We moved DD in yesterday. I did fine- no tears. My 3 days prior of crocodile tears apparently were enough. The weekend was fun. My last tears came Saturday night... The hotel only had a room left with a king and a fold out sofa. As we were having dinner DD says, "I have an idea, how about dad takes the pull out and I snuggle in with you?" Sucked to be DH that night

Sunday was busy and exhausting as we unloaded in the rain. I should have taken before pictures of her room as I'm pretty sure there are more appealing prison cells. When we were done, it looked so cute and comfortable. I'll post a couple of pics tonight.

DD texted a precious thank you last night for all our work.

DH and I left her at 2:30, made the 4 hour drive home, and popped the cork on a bottle of champagne.

All the way home, We discussed what we should take back family weekend next month to make her room perfect but at least I wasn't crying. Baby steps people!

Good for you and thanks for the encouraging words. DD moves in a week from tomorrow. Neither of us feels like it's real but I have a feeling I'm going to be a mess the night before. I'll be spending lots of time in the attic looking for something or in the bathroom. I think I'll be okay during move in just because there's so much to do. I think I'll be worst when leaving. I'm trying to be strong for her, but my heart really does ache at the thought of my baby girl not being at home anymore. Ah, such is life! Suck it up and move on momma!

 

[elgerber]

I am impressed you left with no tears, I have been a mess for the last week, with each day getting progressively worse. Friday night she had friends over, so I was alone in my room watching TV and I lost it. I cried so hard, my eyes hurt and I had blurry vision until I went to bed. I am trying to hold it together at work today, but I just feel lost and sad. I know I will be fine eventually but until then, I am dying.
We are driving up tomorrow afternoon and move in is Wed morning. Her school isn't doing parents weekend this year, it's usually homecoming weekend. So I don't know if we are going to go up for homecoming or what to do. They don't have any organized family activities this year for that weekend.

 

[NotUrsula]

Freshman Bio and Chem were weed out classes at our DD's school as well...and it worked for a lot of kids . Our DD was a class tutor and she said several times how she wondered if they had had any chem in high school at all. Most had no idea how to write up a lab or even work with basic lab equipment. THey all wanted to be doctors though . O-Chem is a weed class at a lot of schools though.

There are a LOT of high schools in the US where there are no labs, or if there are, no equipment in them. My rural high school was like that; it was built with labs, but there was no money to stock them, so we had class there, but never so much as turned on a burner. Three people in my graduating class went on to finish med school, so that isn't as ridiculous a goal as you might think.

 

[Gina]

Big to all of you this morning, both those who have already left their babies in their new nests, and those still helping them pack twigs and fluff. I love hearing the stories and seeing the pics -- please keep 'em coming! They help remind me that this is a happy, exciting time, even if it's secretly (or not so secretly) a little heartbreaking.

This week is go-time for us. He moves in on Thursday, and after talking about it we decided to have one last stint of mother-son fun on the island we love so much and have made so many memories on, before he begins his own set of adventures there on his own.

So I'm taking a half-day off on Wednesday, and he's going to spend the morning loading up his car. When I get home we'll put the rest in my car, and make the short drive to Galveston. We've got a hotel room for the night, and we're going to hit all our favorite spots, eat at our favorite places, see our favorite sights together, just he and I. Then Thursday morning after breakfast together, we'll get him moved into his residence hall. Then I'll have the rest of the day to go home and cry before heading back to work Friday morning, lol. My boss thinks I'm nuts for not taking Friday off too, but I'm out of vacation days now -- and honestly, need the distraction.

Hang in there, everyone... people keep insisting it gets better!!

 

[Pembo]

Thursday is our day too. We are packing up on Wednesday, loading the car Wed night and leaving right after we drop off the younger 2 at school in the am. It is a very busy day with a 2 hour drive, moving in, lunch, then music orientation before the welcoming ceremony. They kick the parents out at 4:15. I hope I'll be too busy to cry. At this point I want to fast forward to the weekend. I want all of this to be over. I am trying to not think about the fact that this is it.
We planned our Mom and Son grad trip to Universal the day after he gets home for winter break. I'm excited about that.

I'm glad I have all of you to commiserate with!! Did you all see the College parents thread from a few years ago? Someone updated it and most of the kids have graduated. Will that be us?

 

[mom2rtk]

Thursday is our day too. We are packing up on Wednesday, loading the car Wed night and leaving right after we drop off the younger 2 at school in the am. It is a very busy day with a 2 hour drive, moving in, lunch, then music orientation before the welcoming ceremony. They kick the parents out at 4:15. I hope I'll be too busy to cry. At this point I want to fast forward to the weekend. I want all of this to be over. I am trying to not think about the fact that this is it.
We planned our Mom and Son grad trip to Universal the day after he gets home for winter break. I'm excited about that.

I'm glad I have all of you to commiserate with!! Did you all see the College parents thread from a few years ago? Someone updated it and most of the kids have graduated. Will that be us?

It will go faster than you think. Our older son graduates in the spring. He commutes, so the adjustment with him starting college wasn't even close to what it was when brother left last year. But still, I just marvel at how fast it all went. He, of course, would probably tell you I was crazy and it didn't go fast at all!

The house sure seemed a lot smaller with everyone home this summer, but it was so lovely to have everyone home again for a while.

 

[PrincessNancy96]

We move in on Thursday too! Our drive is 3 hours and we are leaving as soon as we drop the youngest off at the middle school.

The only thing left to pack up is clothes and laptop. He has everything else ready to go. He has been in contact with his roommate several times but neither have heard from the suite mate.

In all honesty I feel like we have forgotten stuff but I have inventoried several times.. I think sending a boy is a lot less stuff then sending our DD off 2 years ago.. All books have been purchased and we spent less than $450 (that is with access codes)!

We have decided to rent a storage unit for the summer so they aren't dragging loads of stuff back home between the two of them that just return to school in the fall. DD and DS attend the same college.

DD said her schedule is filling up for this week so she doesn't even know if she will get to do lunch with us and DS when we move him in. She is an RA and has obligations..so it may be a drive by visit to get photos of everyone together and some hugs.

I have my kleenex in the van and DS18 has made me promise to make it to the van before I become a hot mess!

 

[sk!mom]

I'm glad I have all of you to commiserate with!! Did you all see the College parents thread from a few years ago? Someone updated it and most of the kids have graduated. Will that be us?

Yes, please!

 

[Gina]

I'm glad I have all of you to commiserate with!! Did you all see the College parents thread from a few years ago? Someone updated it and most of the kids have graduated. Will that be us?

I'll be here if y'all will.

 

[Bluestars]

It sounds like many of the kids have moved into their dorms or are moving in soon. My husband and I are in the middle of a 10 hour drive with my son's vehicle and all of his stuff in the back. We are meeting up with our son later today when he finishes the freshman camp.

We will move him into his dorm tomorrow and he will get to finally meet his roommate. Then we will fly back home.

The good thing is that we will fly back up at the end of this month for a cadet program. It will be so exciting to see how everything went for him during that time.

 

[Bluestars]

I'll be here if y'all will.

Me too!

 

[disneymom2one]

Our day is Friday. I think we're all ready at this point. I have no idea how it'll go. I really don't. She's moving into the honors dorm and they have a ton of activities pretty much from the moment they arrive and continuing all weekend. That should help. In spite of the autism, she really wants to have friends. She just got a very raw deal at our small town high school and never made social inroads. She chose this school specifically because the honors program has a lot of built in opportunities to make friends as does the autism program. She'll (probably) be fine academically but what we're really hoping is that she'll finally make friends. She did really well making friends both at a scholarship day and at orientation - much to our relief. Two of those kids will be in her dorm and so I'm hoping that's a start. That's all I want - just for her to finally feel like she belongs somewhere.

As to me, I'll be okay. Starting tomorrow, I have 100+ math students to worry about and my husband probably has twice that many. We're fortunate to love our jobs and work in a really supportive environment. Everyone has known our daughter since she was four and knows our journey. People have been extraordinarily kind. Two in our department have kids on the spectrum and I'm sure we'll be commiserating with them in between all the beginning of the semester excitement. We'll miss her though - it's been the three of us against the world in many ways.

Oh - and someone mentioned Universal. We're thinking about it for winter break as well. We have two small DVC contracts and current annual passes but we do an every other year thing with Disney - made three trips on these passes and borrowed points so we'll take the next year off.

 

[Pembo]

DS did his own laundry today - for the first time. He came upstairs to tell me he knew he could do it. Admittedly I am that mom who just does it all and has the kids help when I ask. Guess he'll be okay. Boys laundry is pretty simple though.

Good luck to my fellow "this weekers". Can't wait to see more pics and hear more stories. I hope I remember to take pictures.

Today I ordered a photo book for DS of some random pics from this summer. I am having it delivered to his college address as a surprise.

 

[elgerber]

We are in the hotel room, a few blocks from campus. All the stuff packed in our cars in the parking lot. I am doing everything I can not to freak out. Already had meltdowns last night and this morning right before we left the house this morning. Excited for her but not so much for me LOL.

 

[Gina]

Today I ordered a photo book for DS of some random pics from this summer. I am having it delivered to his college address as a surprise.

What a neat idea!! I might have to "borrow" that... Gah, I wish I could think of things like that!!

We are in the hotel room, a few blocks from campus. All the stuff packed in our cars in the parking lot. I am doing everything I can not to freak out. Already had meltdowns last night and this morning right before we left the house this morning. Excited for her but not so much for me LOL.

 

[IDoDis]

Lots of move-ins going on now! Good luck to all of the mama and papa birds who are helping their baby birds leave the nest! Remember to post dorm pics! It's a difficult but exciting time. I will stay on here for the ride through the ups and downs to graduation and hope that DD graduates in 4 years!

DD has now been to all of her classes after finishing her first two days of school. I also think she is starting to understand what DH and I have been telling her about the amount of studying and reading she has to do. She has had hours of work both nights so far. She ended up switching her calculus class to a different professor that she was wait-listed for. This professor received one of two awards for professor of the year this last school year. So she returned the $165 book and I was able to rent the book for the new class on Amazon at a huge savings because it wasn't a custom book and there was no code required. I envy everyone who got books really cheap. We were so unlucky with that. Every professor (with the exception of the paperback books she needs for her honors class) said she must get the books from the bookstore because the other versions would not work. He psych professor said to only buy the book from the bookstore SIX times in one email! I wonder if he is getting a kickback! Sheesh! DD absolutely loves her honors class that she almost didn't want to take. I talked her into it though because I knew she'd love the smaller liberal arts seminar style of the class.

For those who still have a few days left with their kid, enjoy!

 

[Katelly]

Hope everyone is doing ok! This week is going way too fast for me. Just have to pick up a few more things for dd. With all the running around and shopping/packing, I just realized I didn't get dd a birthday card or gift and her 18th b'day is the second day of school. Oops!

Anyway, even though we have a few more things to get done, I decided that we'd go to the beach tomorrow, just to relax. I don't care how busy we are, we are making time for it! I packed sandwiches and drinks and even if we spend just two hours at the ocean, it will be a nice break for dd with all the stress of the past few weeks.

Before I know it, the car will be packed and we'll be heading out on our six hour road trip.