This Bird Has Flown
The deed has been done. On Thursday morning, a two car caravan departed from the San Fernando Valley to take the wee lassie to her college, Kresge College at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Both cars were fully loaded with hope, trepidation, and more crap that one child should own. I recalled my first foray into secondary education at the University of Missouri. . I got everything in a 57 VW Beetle, AND my roomate and his stuff. How times have changed.
Santa Cruz is a beautiful city. We spent the Thurday evening in the downtown area, full of life and restaurants and street people and students and parents. The Stewwife found a great B and B for mom and dad to seek some peace and quiet and make a mini vacation of the ordeal.
We got going early on Friday to get in a long snaking line full of exhausted parents and excited young people. . . who brought more stuff than any child should own. The college is located in the middle of a redwood forest with deer prancing about (I thought to get her a rifle and some hunter orange, but it might clash with all of the colored wool caps abounding on campus).
Move in was up hill, up stairs, and up tempo. They have her in a neat little apartment setting with a kitchen, living room and 2 bedrooms. She is jammed in with 2 other girls (er. . I forget, this is UCSC. . I mean womyn) and 2 more are in the second room. Of note is the fact that 5 young females must learn to share ONE BATHROOM. Luckily, they are just down the walkway from the Feminist Studies Laboratory, so if they run into problems, they can consult the writings of Gloria Steinem and the Grimke Sisters to solve all problems.
I checked out the student union and book store and bought my obligatory "Banana Slug" t shirt.
Got her computer up to date (a three hour wait watching the future of America coming and going with their computers and piercings). She realized that she had brought more crap than any child should own and we wound up loading 2 bags and a box of stuff to bring BACK.
As I drove away, the empty seat in my car triggered an empty place in my heart. But that was short lived as it was trumped by the happiness I feel for my little girl going off on her own and having so much before her.
Santa Cruz is a beautiful city. We spent the Thurday evening in the downtown area, full of life and restaurants and street people and students and parents. The Stewwife found a great B and B for mom and dad to seek some peace and quiet and make a mini vacation of the ordeal.
We got going early on Friday to get in a long snaking line full of exhausted parents and excited young people. . . who brought more stuff than any child should own. The college is located in the middle of a redwood forest with deer prancing about (I thought to get her a rifle and some hunter orange, but it might clash with all of the colored wool caps abounding on campus).
Move in was up hill, up stairs, and up tempo. They have her in a neat little apartment setting with a kitchen, living room and 2 bedrooms. She is jammed in with 2 other girls (er. . I forget, this is UCSC. . I mean womyn) and 2 more are in the second room. Of note is the fact that 5 young females must learn to share ONE BATHROOM. Luckily, they are just down the walkway from the Feminist Studies Laboratory, so if they run into problems, they can consult the writings of Gloria Steinem and the Grimke Sisters to solve all problems.
I checked out the student union and book store and bought my obligatory "Banana Slug" t shirt.
Got her computer up to date (a three hour wait watching the future of America coming and going with their computers and piercings). She realized that she had brought more crap than any child should own and we wound up loading 2 bags and a box of stuff to bring BACK.
As I drove away, the empty seat in my car triggered an empty place in my heart. But that was short lived as it was trumped by the happiness I feel for my little girl going off on her own and having so much before her.
posted by stewdog | 8:07 AM | Permalink
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8 comments
8 Comments:
(Sniff, sniff) That was very nice, Stewdog. She's going to have a great time -- and Santa Cruz sounds beautiful.
May her college years go well.
Now, tell me why y'all start mid-September when colleges on the Right Coast start in August? We have a shortage of lifeguards and camp counselors every August as our cheap labor supply heads off to school. Your stew-pup with a late start would be VERY valuable August 1 through Labor Day if she wanted to work on this coast next summer.
They are on quarters in the UC system and start ridiculously late.
Did you tell embarrassing stories to her roommates or call her by a mortifying nickname? College freshmen love when their dads do that. ;)
But it's almost a dad's duty to do stuff like that, isn't it?
My dad *still* calls me over at gatherings and has me show the scar on my arm (from surgery following a bad break that I got while playing tackle football when I was twelve) to people I've just met. He's so darned proud of the fact that his daughter has a football injury.
My mere presence was embarassment aplenty. I did rearrange the furniture in the common area of her dorm apartment, but mainly I was just a beast of burden for the move in and a go fer for the settling in. However, the radical left politics of the school gives me lots of opportunities to embarass. I need to keep track of her courses and constantly harrange the professors by email.
So you're planning on being one of those "helicopter parents?"
Helicopter parent? Nah. . more like a neutron bomb.
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