Missing my Kiddo. . .

I thought I had this being a mom of a college student all in hand, boy was I wrong.   I do not have anything together.  I have been blaming work for not sleeping well since I have been working more nights and the truth is it is plain old worry.  I guess being a mom the worry never stops, I will worry when they are 40.  Kids do not understand that until they are parents themselves.  LOL!!  I sure did not understand.  My sister was quick to point out the worry I must have caused our mom when I was in college, when I was crying on her shoulder last week.
I know the parenting job is suppose to prepare our kids not to need us but must they not need us so soon.  Mine has gone off, Mr. Independent, tooling around the big city like a pro.  He loves it, and is having the time of his life and the worst part for me is that he does not miss home at all.  I know, I know he is suppose to spread his wings and fly to new adventures, I just did not think he would be this good at it. 
I pray every night that he will be safe while he is out tooling around the city and I pray that he does not lose his focus.  Focus being school and studying hard and preparing for his future.  Lots of prayers for all the moms and dads of college students that have gone off to spread their wings to new adventures.  This parenting thing is so hard and painful. 

The Boy is in Boston. . .

Just got home from dropping my oldest at College.  Wheww!!  I must give the school credit, it went very smooth, they had student leaders and student athletes helping the freshman get their stuff moved in to the dorms.  That was a huge help, and they were very organized, the most organized move in process I have ever seen.  I vaguely remember my brother moving in and I do not remember my sister moving in except in her apartment.  I remember my move in and we did not have help of any kind except what came with me. 
Because the school is up North there is no AC only heat.  It was pretty hot moving and setting everything up even with the help.  We got him set up and he has two roommates in a  room built for two people and furniture for two people.  They had events planned throughout the day for everyone and we had planned to leave to come home that afternoon.  Needless to say we stayed and attended all of the events for the family.   I love that this college has a culinary school because the family dinner we had was amazing!!!  We were able to meet several of the boys on the lacrosse team and a couple of the soccer players that helped move us in.  Everyone was very nice and helpful, I feel at ease about my sweet Sprat being there.  I am going to miss him terribly though. 
I was a little worried at first but then he escorted us to the car and told us he had to go find the rest of the team.  I took that to mean, I am ok and ya'll can go now, and the hubbs and I reluctantly left our first born in the big city. 
I left him with the letters I had written him over the years about different things and how he was at certain times of his life. In those letters I also enclosed a little money, which he does not know about yet.  I do not know when he will read them or if he will read them, I hope that he keeps them because I wanted him to have something in my handwriting.  I have some old journals from my mothers father and I cherish them because I never knew him, he had passed away before I was born.  The journals are just about his daily activities but it mentions my mom a couple of times and her sisters and brothers and what they were doing at that time.  I hope that Sprat will keep my letters the same way. 
Here are a few pictures from the day:

Dad giving last minute advice, the building in the background is one of the education buildings.

The trunk covered in stickers to hold all of his extra gear. 

Facebook Help or Hindrance inOur Social Lives. . .

A dear friend of mine from high school teaches third grade right here in my backyard.  We had found each other on the almighty Facebook but we had not physically seen each other since high school graduation (I could tell you how long ago that was but I want bore you with dinosaur history)  That is sad. Facebook can connect us to people far and wide but we lose that physical connection to those closest to us.
My very sweet friend reached out via Facebook and asked her friends and family to adopt her third grade class and supply each child with a book and a note of encouragement for that first day of school and prayers throughout the year.   I was thrilled to sign up for that since bringing snacks and surprises for the kids is frowned upon for the Sophomore year of high school.
We decided to schedule a lunch date so that we could catch up and I could bring her some goodies for the class.  It was great to see my friend and find out how she wound up here and to tell her how I wound up here, funny thing was, they were very similar love stories. 
We laughed and cried telling each other our terrific love stories.   We have vowed to keep in touch personally and not just with Facebook.
So back to my title of this post.  Is Facebook a help or a hindrance?  I think it is a hindrance, we like a post and comment here and there and you think you are keeping up with your relationship with that friend.  I think Facebook is driving a wedge between friends and family with all of the political nonsense and all the hate that is publicized that before Facebook we would not have heard about.  I do not delete people for their posts but I might hide a post or two if it is offensive to me.  I have been deleted before and I am not really sure why this person deleted me, I am not political and I do not argue with anyone on Facebook because that is useless.  Arguing with someone on Facebook is like arguing with my Basil, there is no point.
So what do you think about Facebook, help or hindrance? 

Stay tuned, prepping this week for taking Sprat to school. . . .

Work and a Few Tidbits. . . Here and There. . .

I am not able to post a lot about my job because of privacy and things like that but today we had a staff meeting and they introduced a new out reach campaign to get people to sign up to be organ, eye, and tissue donors.   It is called "Be the Hero your Dog Sees."   We have a lot of animal lovers in our company and they decided what better way to reach out to the community, than with their animals.  Basically, if you have dogs you know that your dog thinks the sun rises and sets with their human.  So our campaign wants you to be a hero to everyone by signing up to be an organ, eye and tissue donor because your dog already thinks you are a hero.  If you are interested or would like more information about organ donation if you are in North Carolina go to Donate Life NC, if you are somewhere else you can go to Donate Life America.

#Betheheroyourdogsees

My job is not easy and many nights I cry on my drive home thinking about the sweet folks that gave so much of themselves for someone else.  I think about that year that my sweet hubby was laid off and how God had a plan for our family and more importantly he had a plan for me.  I do love my job and I am very thankful for the opportunity I have been given to make a difference and to be a hero my dog sees. 

College Prep continues. . .

Sorry for the gap in posts; work has been busy and so has getting Sprat ready to go off to College.  I had no idea there was so much paperwork involved in this college thing.  I do not think there was this much paperwork in buying our first house and signing for our first mortgage.  Every day there is a new email with more things to do and sign that we have read. 
I must admit, I have felt a little overwhelmed these last few weeks trying to prepare for this send off.  I am so afraid I am going to forget something that he might need for school and there is just not a Walmart or even a drug store on every corner in Boston. 
In the midst of all of my own worry and fretting my very sweet Sprat brought me this book this morning.  It is a photo album that he and one of his girl friends put together for me.  It is some of his baby pictures and it is the sweetest, thoughtful gesture I think he has ever made.  I was blown away.   Big ugly tears today as I think about him leaving home for the Big City.  Today, I feel like I may have done some things right, today I feel very blessed and a little sad that I did a good job raising this one.  He is going to go off on his own and make his own way in this big old world. 
You know we talk about this when they are young, but I am here to tell you that nothing has prepared me for this.  You want them to go off and be successful but nothing prepares you on how to deal with them being so good at this going off part.  My heart is full of love, pride, and sadness today as I think I only have four weeks left with this very sweet kid that I have spent the last eighteen years preparing for this very thing.
Stay tuned for the drama to come . . . .

Time Capsule Opening. . . Drum Roll ^*^*^*^*^*^*

I told you we had a lot of celebrating to do for this Grad.  We celebrated yesterday to my Mom's and Sprat opened his time capsule that we sealed on his first birthday.  Lots of treasures were  found some worth a little dough and some just  very sentimental.  I think Sprat got a kick out of opening it and seeing everything we had put in it.  I know we all had fun watching him.  There were pieces of history enclosed with lots of pictures.  He had a C3PO pez dispenser still in its original packaging, pictures of the hubbs Dad from his service years and patches from his time on the police force.  Mint uncirculated coins from his year of birth, some Joe Camel advertisements from relatives that worked at RJR,  metal toy tractor from my hubbys youth, the cork from our bottle of Champagne from our "romantic" meal we had in the hospital right after we had Sprat, and all the cards from his first birthday and his infant Baptism.  So many memories. . .

Poppy enjoying the cake and festivities . . 

Getting ready to open the time capsule. . . 

Taking in all of the fun. . . 

I do not give a lot of parenting advice but this is and was a very cool idea and I am so glad we did it.  I highly recommend doing one for your little one if you have one.   Stay tuned, we have one more party before Sprat goes off to school. . . 

Lake Pictures . . . More Celebration. . .

Continued from my last post and our Lake celebration of Sprats graduation: 

The hubbs had to get in on the act. 

Big T making a birds nest in his line. . .

Fishing was a little slow but to my crew any day fishing is a good Day!!

Stay tuned more celebratory pics to come. . .