I’m back. Now that school has officially started for everyone I brought into this world, I’ve finally paused to jot my thoughts down. More of a snapshot of where we are…today.
Our daughter who is beginning her junior year in college is an RA – and as of today has checked in the new freshman residents. Due to some floor movement, she has explained to the girls that the occasional cockroach is normal. She did not mention, however, the entertaining “Roach sighting tally” kept on her resident’s door last year —tracking the number of roaming roaches. Turned out to be quite a bonding activity (Total of 28). Needless to say, Cora is exhausted from decking the halls, designing bulletin boards, and wasting hours trying to stick balloons to cinder block walls —which she made sure to let us know was Not! her idea. She also has tough love advice for all freshman parents – it is time to head home. Your kids are going to be okay and more importantly, you’re hogging all of the parking spots.
Our oldest son is a sophomore in college and has been building mountain bike trails for his team since he arrived back at his university. He switched a class or two, bought a guitar the second day of school, and today sent a video of a resident rooster that lives on campus – luckily the video was of the rooster pooping, so that reassured me that his time is being well spent.
Zavier is focused on baseball, eating, reps in the weight room, and avoiding me and my incessant over-parenting questions by spending time at the batting cages. Periodically, he studies for a quiz or test – I’ve been told- they are gravely different. He said yesterday vocab quizzes are never the type where you actually have to WRITE the definition. “You just have to recognize the definition” he confirms. Not so sure about the accuracy of the testing practices, but I do know when a big life question comes up for Zavier, it better be multiple-choice.
What I learned:
I must remember there is a profound difference between my own experience as a young adult and that of our children (thank you 1980’s). I’ve heard if we as parents try to walk around in their shoes, we’ll not only see the world from their perspective but learn to set more realistic expectations while giving them space to grow. So all this will happen if I nestle my size 7 feet in those big, stinky baseball cleats…metaphorically speaking. I suppose if it helps me understand how my kids manage this sometimes weighty life – I’ll give it a shot.
Thank you so much for joining me,
Lucretia
runonmom.com 