Alert, not a humorous post today.

Did you ever have one of "those" days or weeks?  When you just know it may not end well.
Today was one of those days.
I agreed to go on a errand run with the "other" who lives in the house with me.   This has not happened in almost two years or so, but I kinda got cornered by mentioning ahead of time my plans for this day.

Since discussions when not in public are limited to general requests, griping about everything from using the dishwasher when it is not full to my lack in all things, being trapped for hours on an errand run is not on the top of my top ten list. Heck it isn't even at the bottom.

I prefer not to be embarrassed when I am out, and this always happens and it is not my fault.  I have many witnesses who would attest to that fact.  But I needed a distraction today, so I agreed.

My youngest had her last final exam for the term at college, and was heading home for the summer after finishing the packing of her apartment.   She had originally hoped it would be her very last exam, but year five is starting in September.  It's not that she isn't bright or doesn't do well, but like the practical young woman she is, she has changed her major, not once, or twice, but three times.  She watches the job market like a stock brokers watches the ticker and futures.  She wanted to be employed in the area she had studied for when she got the diploma and started part two.

Understandable I thought.  I had decided to let her do what she had to do... because I did not ever want to hear the words  that I made her do what she was unhappy doing. Her life, her choices.  She is paying for school, and she will be paying back the student loans.

So after four years of high school and four years of college, my other, her father has decided to take interest in what she was doing.  Hello !!  Eight years of not taking interest.  Eight years.   So while she sits here, fretting over the final grades which shall determine her direction, stressed and in need of a time out, she gets to hear from the clueless other, that she basically is a failure for spending four years and not getting a degree.  Not smart.
The other has no clue that fully eighty percent of her friends are also heading into year five.  That the four year trek into adult hood is not the norm. Not now, not in those times.  I watched my daughter who has cried three times in eight years, who is a tough, hard working, young women dissolve into a puddle that forms when the final drop hits the full sink and water flows on the floor.

She had alternate plans should the test scores not be what she hoped for in a similar field, only to be told that they were not sensible plans and that they would not lead to that degree.  They would lead to a lucrative career and the degree could easily follow.  
A degree does not always make for a job or a good job, and why mr. know it all now, should know that.  He should also know that  a pat on the shoulder tonight, would have made for a better evening than the path he chose without thinking.

What a run

If you're reading this you may think that this is about well, running. You would be wrong. Although I am always impressed by the fit and not so fit women and men along every road and path that are out there, pounding along the pavement in all kinds of conditions, the last time I actually ran was ... well I can't remember but I am relatively sure that something was chasing me.

No what this is about is a run of luck, not bad necessarily and not good, but quirky, weird luck. I just want a break from the craziness, just for a week or so. We've had lightning disable a well, a computer brain in an suv, and play havoc with our phone lines.
I have had two dogs, sisters no less, being out of sorts with each other a lot. We have had tick bites, disagreements with orthodontists, and still have some forms to fill out for the upcoming freshman year my youngest is about to undertake for her next four years of college.
We have physicals to take and records to get and the days are flying by.
Bad roommates run out on rent, and trash as they leave, and the temperature just doesn't want to give us a break.

I just need all this to stop. Not forever, because to believe that would be foolish,but for just a few days. To catch my breath, to refocus, to read that book that sits on the table taunting me to open it. I need renewed, well as renewable as a soon to be 60 year old woman can be. I want to sleep in and not do all the laundry that has accumulated while the well was malfunctioning.
I want to drink coffee, put my feet up and read.
Well I like fairy tales but don't believe in them and this is what I have asked for..so perhaps I should make another request. In September.

Monday, Monday

So here we are at the beginning of another week, this one filled with leftover chores from the weekend, and the end taken up by a two day orientation at my youngest daughter's soon to be home for the next four or five? years, her college.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for the orientation of something new such as a college, but for the students. The parents are supposed to attend two days of pertinent information as well. Two days!! This concerns me that professionals can't compact all this information in less than two days.
I could have stayed in a dorm, so I can get the idea of what our children will be experiencing in the fall or I can book a room, both cost money.
I'm not sure exactly what I will learn from this experience, but I dutifully booked a room, and paid for an orientation packet. I am still working on the paid part.
I will be staying in a motel, as I don't really need to experience the comfort of a single dorm bed, in a room shared by a stranger at my age.
I think my imagination is good enough to know how my daughter will be living, on campus at least for a year.
I will attend at least part of the activities scheduled for the parents, but unless they are something new and keep my attention, I plan on ducking out and checking out the small town this big university is located in.
By the way did I mention that this is my second go round at college visits.
The school won't really tell you the important things, like who a good car mechanic is, or if there is a 24 hour clinic for when the college infirmary is closed. Are there available stores, drugstores, for the necessities of the teenage girls?
Do they deliver pizza to the dorms for late night snacking, and how much money should our new students really have on hand for the incidentals that make up college life?
What they won't tell us is how to convince our daughters that they really do not need to bring everything in their closets. First they won't all fit in the dorm rooms, and secondly after a week or two goes by, the student will realize that sweat shirts and pants are a good match almost six days of the week.
Do they suggest thirty pair of underwear? We know how often laundry will be done...I have already had the duffle of dirty duds arrive for visits with my former college student.
Do they tell us to be taste testing for the best microwave popcorn, frozen snack, dry snack?
How much bottle water should I bring or will the walmart found in or near every college town have the essentials she will need?
They don't tell us that our student to be will require a new college sweatshirt from the bookstore, and a bumper sticker or windown decal...on this orientation weekend.
So I'm gathering my stuff for our excursion, leaving a list of pet duties for my students father who will be in charge of the two dogs and one cat we are leaving in his care, and we will be doing the "road" trip thing come Wednesday.
Ah yes, orientation..maybe I'll get that book finished I started a month ago after all.
Well it is only this year, but maybe someone could suggest these two words for next years orientation..."virtual tour".