Oh My....

I have this picture of Mr. and Mrs. Scarlett eating ice cream au natural in every room in the house...no offense but this does not seem a pretty sight..lol!

If by chance you resemble Priscilla Presley or someone similar of that age group...please accept my apologies and admiration ;-)

I will accept your apologies placeu2

Actually, placeu2, having looked up Ms Presley and checked on her age, I find that she is older than I..so you may send more apologies

It's a little sad for us, getting oldest daughter ready to go back to year 2 at Univ MD-College Park. She is definitely ready to go back after a summer at home with all of us...but we do miss her when she's gone!

My daughter and I will also soon be flying to DC -- we shipped 6 boxes of stuff and 2 boxes of books to her on-campus address, will check only one or two items on the plane, mostly the clothes she's worn for the past week and teen essentials like hair-care appliances. Carryons will be the laptop and "spilly stuff."

We don't even OWN any large suitcases (perhaps you've seen my posts on packing light), and it was cheaper to ship all her stuff and take the subway to the airport, rather than schlepping the stuff on a taxi to the airport.

Last week drove oldest daughter to her Freshman year at SMU -Dallas. So far so good!
Good thing for email to keep in touch !!

My daughter is off to University of Kansas in Lawrence. It's alway been just the two of us.

A month ago, the person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with decided that it wouldn't work.

THEN, of all things, INS raided my favorite Mexican restaurant. Now I don't even have the cold comfort of frozen Margaritas.

The poor people I work with...
They worry about how I always have tears in my eyes.

I'm over the empty nest blues already, my last baby moved out on May 1, redecorating of his room helped. His first day in Berkeley is today.

Actually he's not living on campus, just by a BART station working and living in a hotel.

Denise,
Try to keep your chin up! Sometimes things happen for a reason.
On a lighter note - "Rock chalk - Jay Hawk--- KU!!!!!!" I am an alum. I loved it.

Hang in there, Denise!

You know, when it rains, it pours....

Group hug for Denise...hang in there!

OK people, I will try to make you feel more sorry for me than for yourselves
My baby boy ( started college early)went to college, got out and traveled all over Europe and the US for a couple of years. That was not bad as he came home between tours, staying 3 mos sometimes, a week others.
Then he went to live and work in Seattle. For one year. weep weep.
He came home for 6 months, then got a job and moved to Japan.
We are lucky if we see him once a year. One year, he came home twice. It has been almost 5 years now. sob sob.
All I can say is Thank God for email and cell phones and a lovely daughter~

Big group hug for Scarlett, everyone!!

LOL

I console myself by saying that the alternative to having your kids fly out of the nest is having them still living with you when they are 40 and you are still doing their laundry, picking up their socks from the living room floor, etc.

Advice to those who love to travel who have younger kids. Start a gentle sell now on colleges located someplace decent - you will have to actually go there several times over 4 years. If you like to ski, tell them what a great education is offered by colleges in the mountains (something about thinner mountain air stimulating brain cells). If you live in the north and crave some winter sun, talk up the cultural advantages of parts of the South.

They will end up going where they want anyway, but at least you can feel you tried.

LOL, gail, excellent points!

Fortunately, I have not one but TWO cousins who, at 40, are still living at home and acting like 15-year-olds. Their bedrooms have neve been redecorated since they were kids. It creeps out MY kids so badly, they've sworn not to become victims of this severe version of move-back-home syndrome, which they have named after the cousins.

cassidy2002:
My daughter will be in Yakeley-Gilchrist. We've been impressed with MSU so far, everyone we've come into contact with has been incredibly helpful and friendly.

This is a great thread, it's helpful to hear that others are going through these same emotions. I'm excited for her, but boy will I miss her!

My youngest, when he was four, would always say "mommy, I'll always live with you, even when you're old" - cute at four; as you said anonymous, creepy at 40!

Woke up at the crack of dawn making a mental list of all the stuff I think he still needs, while he is comfortably sleeping, seemingly without a care in the world! Just can't wait for this week to end

To seetheworld - I can assure you that Boston has lots of stores. And while our kids are accustomed to just going to the appropriate place in the house for Tylenol, pencils, potato chips, clean socks - I think they will learn to buy it themselves rather quickly.

One bit of advice - since you said your son will be freshman at BU. The dorm area around BU will be a nightmare on student arrival day. Storrow Drive will at some point be closed when some jerk tries to drive a truck under a low overpass. Consider bringing some sort of dolly/handcart as you may end up parking a distance from his dorm or apartment.

The Red Sox are playing at home 8/26-9/5 and this makes the area even more congested - try to plan unpacking time at time other than 2 hours before through 1 hour after game.

seetheworld, anonymous, and gail - Don't live in Italy!! It's completely normal here for sons to live at home at that age!!!
I agree though, in America, it's a bit creepy!