Note:
The following e-mails and AIM conversations took place between my youngest daughter and I while she attended college some three thousand miles away from home.
An Anniversary Care Package
From Our Daughter
Hello you lovely anniversary couple!
Before you start thinking “Oh god, she’s gone crazy” you must let me explain the contents of your gift box. This is actually a very practical anniversary gift box. I thought about getting you flowers for a long time, but I think forty-one years is a very special time in a young couple’s life, and hence calls for a very special gift. Below you will find an explanation of the contents.
1. Kitchen Witch – This wee little kitchen witch will ensure that mom never has to make dinner alone and will watch over dad when he makes his magical concoctions. She’s a witch, so she won’t be afraid of dad’s ummm…creativity in the kitchen. Also,
she won’t flinch when she hears mom talking violently to the food.
2. Love Coupons – I don’t know how much explanation these need, just don’t tell me when you use them.
3. Halls Defense Vitamin C Drops – You old fogies were both sick when I was home on Break. You’ve got too much high-paced living to do to be concerned with down time due to colds. These are yummy and good for you, so enjoy and be healthy!
4. Milk Chocolate Truffles – Even more yummy, but not at all healthy. Dad, make sure you let mom have some too.
5. Small Memo Pad – I figure this can have two uses. First of all, you two have been going too long having ‘communication problems’ resulting in arguments. Pretty soon, neither of you will be able to remember why you were arguing in the first place. I figure you can just start writing down your conversations and realize that you both say some crazy shit sometimes. Also, dad can write the things that he’s going to ‘remember that he forgot.’ This will ensure that he never forgets to remember the things he forgot…like turning off the pool water. There are some pens included to help facilitate the efficient use of this wonderful invention.
6. Eyeglass Repair Kit – I’m sure there are a few of these laying around the house, but you can always use more. Dad, by my tally, 45 X $1.00 (cost of each pair of 99 cent store glasses that I’ve found laying around the house) plus 10 X $1.00 (you’ve probably bought at least ten repair kits so far) is getting close to $55 dollars. I think they should make you an honorary board member of the 99 cents store. I tried to buy you some of their stock, but it was surprisingly not .99 cents.
7. College Mouse – This mouse will help remind you of the real College mouse that’s missing you guys in New York!
I love you both and hope you have a wonderful anniversary. I won’t make fun of you if you eat cup of noodles…but I think you should go out for a nice date and drinks and dad should finally get into mom’s pants. He would look so cute in them
Love,
Gem!
An E-Mail to Her Father:
Hey Dad,
Thanks so much for your wonderful message! I wish I could dump more though…haha. Just kidding. I’m starting to sleep less. I need to fix that, go back to my eight hours a night (yes, so much better than high school, right? I used to sleep like five hours a night, so I’m still doing better with my 7). I hope you guys are doing alright without me….take advantage of it hehehe! Is it weird for you guys to finally being alone again after having kids for thirty years? I hope not, and I hope you guys are having a good time. Remember to take breaks from working, you should go and spend a weekend in Santa Barbara or something (well I know it’s getting cold now though, so maybe somewhere else). And make sure you take mom up to see Cole too when you guys get the chance (Sofitel, dad….she’ll melt). I hope you saw the pictures that I sent to mom. The boyfriend says “hello”. You guys will have to come out sometime this year.
It’s getting so cold here. I thought it wouldn’t make that big a difference, but 22 feels very different from say, 35. The cold just cuts down to your bones! But I’m well outfitted thanks to you guys, so I’ll be fine. I’m holding off on wearing my down coat until it snows, otherwise these east coasters will laugh at me and my California coldness. But they all did admit that it was cold these last few days. Anyway, I’m trying to cut down on my outside time now! Especially at night but its so weird here because in California it would be like in the high fifties during the day and then really cool down at night, but here its just cold all day (thirties during the day and then twenties at night). The have tunnels at other schools up north in New York and Maine for really cold places. Up there it gets so cold they (the powers that be) needed to build tunnels for the students to walk from their dorms to their classes, so, I guess it’s not really so bad here.
Okay, I’m off to some more homework! I have to get a lot done because I’m going to New York City for the weekend with friends. Don’t worry, I’ll be safe and I have an ingenious way of carrying my money and credit cards.
Much Love,
Gem
Note: We were never told what “ingenious way” she found to safely carry her money and credit cards while in the City. We have adjusted to the fact that there are some things we will never know about her college experience.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Dorm Life....Uugh!
Every college freshmen and their parents, that is those pre-college students who choose to attend college in a far a distant, approach their new and free life away from home with bated breaths mixed with a bit of fear topped off with intense anticipation. As that mythic dorm check-in day looms, flights, hotel rooms and rental cars are booked.
The transition for most away college students begins quite mundanely with the college student and their parents lugging boxes and furniture up narrow stairwells and into miniature cubicles that Brooke or Tyler will share with a total stranger. Our youngest daughter had always been sensitive to our moods. Our journey across three thousand miles began with our daughter's luggage being lost by the airline. Every piece of clothing that we had purchased for her to cope with her new east coast life was just....gone. Our hotel, the Yankee Peddlar, was in fact a disheveled old rooming house that was struggling to stay afloat. Our adjoining rooms were small and the summer humdityand heat had worked its magic on the window air conditioner, in other words the only breeze that we felt wafted through screenless windows heavy with gnats and mosquitos. The nicest thing about our accommodations was the bathroom. The second nicest thing was a tap on our door at three in the morning to announce the airline had recovered our daughters lost luggage.
Is was easy to wake up early the next morning; the only person who slept that night was my husband, seasoned Marine who could fall asleep during a mortar attack. The drive from our hotel to the campus was uneventful, until we pulled up to the security gate and the realization that my daughter would be a very long air plane trip away from home. The guard pointed us toward the administration building where our daughter had to pick-up a packet that contained a map and directions to her dorm.
The streets of the campus was riddled with busy parents and students unloading moving/rental vans full of a bit of home; bookcases, lamps, linens, electric tea kettles and miniature rice cookers.
Move-in day on campuses across the country what with checking-in procedures and weepy moms and stotic dads can be a bit much for the average freshman. Our daughter's fate was a bit more challenging than most: her designated dorm would accommodate three young ladies. Although the room had classic, original hardwood floors from the mid-18th century, the room was small and dingy with little storage space and it was obvious that someone would have to sleep on the top bunk amd hazard falling off onto either the cramped, uncarpeted floor or the two desks used as a room divider. Privacy wasn't an issue: there wasn't any.
Somehow, even though we had arrived from the west coast, we were the first to arrive at our daughter's dorm. Within minutes the second roommate arrived and she and her parents were struck by the "quaintness" of their daughter's new environment. The two girls amicably shook hands and decided that the room needed a fast make-over.
My daughter's first e-mail revealed the makings of a classic "roommmate from hell scenario" that began to unfold her very first vening on campus.
E-mail (Aug, 2004)
Mom!
Apparently, because I arrived early and choose the best sleeping and studying arrangement, my roommates have decided to hate me.
G
Three hours after our arrival the third roommate appeared: angry, pissed-off and engaged in a verbal assualt against her parents that was reprehensible. The lare arrival inherited the top bunk. The late arrival snapped commands at her scurrying, quiescent parents. Her tones were so biting and sharp that it was impossbile for the rest us not to squirm. It was clear that this young, out-of-control young woman was used to being disrepectful to her parents as well as other people. She never once even breathed a hello to her other two roommates. Before we left our offspring before the parents scheduled departure of 5:00 PM, I couldn't help but to notice a visible sigh of relief from her two parents as they hurried down the three flights of stairs and to their car. I'm almsot certain that the follwoing months would be filled with a peace that neither had experienced since her birth!
The transition for most away college students begins quite mundanely with the college student and their parents lugging boxes and furniture up narrow stairwells and into miniature cubicles that Brooke or Tyler will share with a total stranger. Our youngest daughter had always been sensitive to our moods. Our journey across three thousand miles began with our daughter's luggage being lost by the airline. Every piece of clothing that we had purchased for her to cope with her new east coast life was just....gone. Our hotel, the Yankee Peddlar, was in fact a disheveled old rooming house that was struggling to stay afloat. Our adjoining rooms were small and the summer humdityand heat had worked its magic on the window air conditioner, in other words the only breeze that we felt wafted through screenless windows heavy with gnats and mosquitos. The nicest thing about our accommodations was the bathroom. The second nicest thing was a tap on our door at three in the morning to announce the airline had recovered our daughters lost luggage.
Is was easy to wake up early the next morning; the only person who slept that night was my husband, seasoned Marine who could fall asleep during a mortar attack. The drive from our hotel to the campus was uneventful, until we pulled up to the security gate and the realization that my daughter would be a very long air plane trip away from home. The guard pointed us toward the administration building where our daughter had to pick-up a packet that contained a map and directions to her dorm.
The streets of the campus was riddled with busy parents and students unloading moving/rental vans full of a bit of home; bookcases, lamps, linens, electric tea kettles and miniature rice cookers.
Move-in day on campuses across the country what with checking-in procedures and weepy moms and stotic dads can be a bit much for the average freshman. Our daughter's fate was a bit more challenging than most: her designated dorm would accommodate three young ladies. Although the room had classic, original hardwood floors from the mid-18th century, the room was small and dingy with little storage space and it was obvious that someone would have to sleep on the top bunk amd hazard falling off onto either the cramped, uncarpeted floor or the two desks used as a room divider. Privacy wasn't an issue: there wasn't any.
Somehow, even though we had arrived from the west coast, we were the first to arrive at our daughter's dorm. Within minutes the second roommate arrived and she and her parents were struck by the "quaintness" of their daughter's new environment. The two girls amicably shook hands and decided that the room needed a fast make-over.
My daughter's first e-mail revealed the makings of a classic "roommmate from hell scenario" that began to unfold her very first vening on campus.
E-mail (Aug, 2004)
Mom!
Apparently, because I arrived early and choose the best sleeping and studying arrangement, my roommates have decided to hate me.
G
Three hours after our arrival the third roommate appeared: angry, pissed-off and engaged in a verbal assualt against her parents that was reprehensible. The lare arrival inherited the top bunk. The late arrival snapped commands at her scurrying, quiescent parents. Her tones were so biting and sharp that it was impossbile for the rest us not to squirm. It was clear that this young, out-of-control young woman was used to being disrepectful to her parents as well as other people. She never once even breathed a hello to her other two roommates. Before we left our offspring before the parents scheduled departure of 5:00 PM, I couldn't help but to notice a visible sigh of relief from her two parents as they hurried down the three flights of stairs and to their car. I'm almsot certain that the follwoing months would be filled with a peace that neither had experienced since her birth!
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