Milestone

Boy20 went away to school after two years at community college and living at home. It was time, but bittersweet just the same. It was nice that he asked to have a last supper at Grandma's house and she cooked up everyone's favorite, corned beef. Lots of veggies, which was good for me as I am trying to eat healthy again, and ice cream for dessert. That was Friday night.

This morning we left around 9 to make the 1.5 hour drive. Just so happens Barack Obama was going to the same place. I sort of half expected to run into some traffic or something, even though we were on the edge of town and he was downtown. There wasn't any sign of congestion, lucky for us since we were barely making our check-in time. Needn't have worried. There was one girl checking in (and rudely blocking the one parking space in front of the housing office). We were off to the apartment area (on campus housing)and plenty of parking there. Mike, the RA led us to the four plex. Only the rude girl was there to check in. It was weird! There was nobody around. Mike "thought" maybe two of the guys in the apartment had checked in but was vague on that. Seems like he didn't have much to do and could at least keep track of the handful of students he was responsible for. I was starting to feel like the real bitchy parent who isn't getting the treatment to which they are entitled.

The place is really nice. See below. Rob, one of the guys left a note on the fridge for Boy20 to help himself to a beer or a Coke. There is lots of beer in there. Note: Boy is 20. I notice a rather fancy martini shaker on top the refrigerator. Oh boy, serenity now...







I'll try to skip the minutiea, and the things that didn't go right and suffice it to say we found the main dining area and we all had an Asian chicken with two sides for $4.25. Pretty reasonable, if overcooked. The one guy who was helpful was the food service manager who went out of his way to explain things and show us where to go and what to do.

I wasn't able to finish helping the boy fix up his room and put stuff away when both he and Pat wanted me out of there. When we come back, everything will be as is, the furniture still messed up, the phone on the chair unplugged, but with a deep layer of dirty clothes, Gatorade bottles and change on the floor and the accompanying stench...I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to get negative. Maybe his roommates will provide a positive peer influence on his personal habits. I insisted on tacking up his posters and making the bed and then it was time to say good-bye. I consoled myself with a Grande Caramel Light Frappucino from Starbucks and it helped, somewhat.