I have 3 kids in college, a senior at one school, and a freshman and a sophomore at another school about 50 miles away.
The sophomore turned 20 last Friday. The senior is quite active in her school’s swing dancing club, and on Saturday their club was travelling to the other school for a joint dance. I’m not sure how whether my daughter (the senior) convinced my son (the sophomore) to go or not, but he was planning on checking out his school’s swing club without knowing his sister and her club were going to be in town. She surprised him, and arranged for her club to bring a cake for her brother. And to top it off, the youngest also made at least a brief appearance.
As a parent, it just thrills me that my kids went out of their way to make plans together, completely independent of any parental involvement. Plus, I can sure imagine my kiddies taking part in activities I would be far less interested in than swing music and dance!
The oldest kid is a music ed major.
I could imagine her doing all kinds of cool things when she gets a job, like formng a jazz band and/or a swing dance club.
When my nieces and nephew were growing up, they fought all the time. We’d tell them that when we were kids we fought too, and now look how well we get along. Of course they didn’t believe us. Now they get along great. It was heartwarming to hear that my nephew’s best friend in college was his own sister, and vice versa.
Dinsdale - My pretty geek niece ended up at Rose-Hulman, starting her engineering gig. She just arrived at school this past weekend, and has already found other girls who also like cooking, and one girl said if the others cook, she’d do the dishes.
Damn, I’d forgotten about that little hottie! Glad she seems to be fitting in so smoothly. My son had a bit of trouble identifying a middle ground between the enginerds who couldn’t make eye contact and hold a conversation, and the guys who got shitfaced every night. Seems to be doing much better with a year under his belt. Funny how each kid has a different killer class. For my kid it was Calc. Other kids hated Physics, but my kid would rack up perfect scores.
And I feel my daughter is quickly picking up on the benefits of being cute AND smart studying the sciences. So nice to be in an environment where being smart is not a strike against you. . .
The one I’m happiest about is my eldest. She has always been a somewhat uptight, straight-arrow overachiever who has consistently been disappointed about finishing 2d or 3d best. I’ve always told her 2d or 3d is pretty damned good, but she just grinds harder. During this, her senior year, she seems to have decided to just go with 2d/3d, and enjoy the fact that she has less responsibility than comes with 1st. In short, she seems like she is finally loosening up a bit and having fun. Really cool to see.
Wife still hasn’t heard. Let’s see - the interview was 2 weeks ago last Tuesday. The guy said they did not have final hiring authority, but needed someone on board before the end of Sept. Generally they start people every 2d Monday, which would be the 14th or 28th.
So who knows? Maybe they won’t hire anyone, or maybe they’ll hire someone else. When I’m at work every time the phone rings and I see my wife’s numbers I wonder, “Is this THE call?” Really frustrating. Almost as much as the money, I think she would really benefit from the novelty/distraction/challenge/purpose of starting a new full-time career.
tdn - My niece took gymnastics and soccer, but didn’t stay with any of them. She’s a world-class babysitter, though! She’d saved $10K of her babysitting money and paid cash for her first used car. She’s odd, a throwback to girls of the 50’s. She loves babies, sewing and cooking and thinks most girls dress like sluts. And she’s a geeky engineering kid who excels at math and science.
Shirley - The school she’s going to has 3 boys for every girl. It’ll do her good to have boys she can talk to without intimidating them.
Dinsdale - I’m glad the kids seem to be growing up so satisfactorily. Now for your wife to spread her wings a bit. I know she’s worked part-time, but that’s really different than a fulltime grind.
