Inner-campus Mail

Some parents are the smothering type, my mother and father weren't of that persuasion. When it was time to select a college, I was interested in many, but most of them only held a casual level of consideration for me. Would my academic record put me in the accepted group of students applying? If I was accepted, would I really want to spend four years at that location?

I think the only place i had ever pictured myself going to school was at the college my mother had bee working since I was a small child. And while I did apply to other colleges, I don't remember if I was or want accepted to any of them. What I do know is that I applied, was accepted and did go to the college I has pictured myself going to for as long as I can remember.

But would this pose a problem?  Not only would I be going to school at the same spot my mother worked, I would be living in a dorm one building over from the administration building in which she worked.

Would she pester me?  Would she show up for surprise visits to my dorm room to make sure I was keeping my room tidy and not getting into trouble with my suite mates?  Would she check up on me through my teachers (that we also her colleagues) and then have talks with me if I wasn't working hard enough at my studies?

No to all of those things. Not only was my mother respectful of my new-found independence, she kept her distance just like she would have had i gone to a college the next state over. What did she do to keep in touch?  She wrote me letters via inner-campus mail. 

Some day when my children are older and have gone off to college I hope I'll be able to respect them as they move into their next phase of life like my mother did for me.

The Big Boy Update:  "Uncle Bob is here! Uncle Brian is here!". Uncle Bob and Uncle Brian arrived the other day to join us for the holiday weekend. I have been telling both children about their impending arrival with excitement. The morning after they flew in, my son came over at breakfast and told me they  were both here. He seemed very happy to have them here for their visit. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "No. Stop it!"  This is a new thing she's been saying. She will tell you when she doesn't like something and that she wants you to stop right now. It's charming when she says it in her high, squeaky baby girl voice.