My publisher just kicked off their summer reading series with my book!
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May 22
College Move-in Day Tough on Parents
In the month of August of every year, college-bound students pack their myriad of belongings and leave home.
For the freshman, it is often their first time away. You can spot them easily that initial day on campus.
They are the ones who flee as far away as possible from their embarrassing baby boomer parents.
For others, upper classman or career students, college move-in day is “old hat.”
Mom and Dad do not mortify them quite so much anymore.
Sophomores to seniors know that parents are good for a few necessities, notably food, cash, and gasoline for starters. It takes the frosh a bit longer to figure this out.
Upperclassmen actually enjoy their parents more than they did when they were freshmen. We cannot assume, however, that means
parents are to stay any longer on move-in day than to unload, fix things, and provide food.
Upperclassmen are ready to be taken out to lunch immediately after they dump their possessions on the floor of their rooms.
Cash is the priority now. Skip the décor. Freshmen just want their parents to leave.
That fact, however, does not mean that all parents will leave. Some have been known to stay in a motel for a couple of weeks just to make
sure their students are adjusting well and that all needs are met.
As a veteran of I-don’t-know-how-many college move-in days, I do not recommend that parents hang around long.
It could get weird.
Whatever you do, if you are the parent of a fraternity guy, do not go upstairs in any fraternity house until Family Weekend!
After the freshman year has passed, parents of a sophomore may notice that their student does not need to spruce the new place up much.
No one appears to care any longer if the bedspreads match or if there is a comfy rug on the floor.
Designer room décor will come back into the picture later when students move into apartments during their junior and senior years and beyond. Be ready then to visit a lot of furniture stores or garage
sales.
And, as the unlucky of us know, some students do stay on into the “beyond” years.
One thing we parents learn through “the school of hard knocks” is that college move-in day is both physically and emotionally exhausting.
It does not matter if it is the first year or the fifth or even the eighth for some.
Oh, my.
By the way, I do not believe any parent who tells me they enjoy driving for hours to the chosen college in an overstuffed car full of boxes, shoes, and cleaning supplies.
Neither do parents thrill at the idea of pulling a U-Haul trailer crammed full of their student’s belongings, only to have to unload in the rain and lug small refrigerators and microwaves to the third floor.
Whenever other students appear on the scene, be warned. Parents will be shunned from that moment on and become invisible to their student, but not unnecessary.
Dads can be seen on college move-in day carrying their DeWalt power tool cases into the dorm rooms while moms are making at least three Walmart runs for more extension cords and curtain rods.
Why do parents gladly put themselves into servant mode year after year on college move-in days?
I am guessing it is because we are completely lost in this strange new way of life.
Simply put, we are lost at the prospect of living without our kids.
One way for parents to hold it together for a little while is to clean a room, drill holes, install closet organizers, and assemble a bed frame.
It helps.
Kids, on the other hand, are not sad at all. They are living in a room the size of most closets and lovin’ it.
Parents find themselves alone for the first time without kids to supervise and with absolutely no idea how to refocus.
This new stage of life takes a bit longer for parents to love than it does for the college gang, say maybe two weeks. By then, we are dusting off our dreams and getting busy reinventing ourselves.
On move-in day there are a few perks worth noting.
Parents can commiserate with one another, comparing horror stories about college move-in days.
Students can commiserate with each other, comparing whose parents were the “nerdiest” and whose acted the most stupidly.
And years later, when no longer at odds, parents and grown kids finally get on the same page.
Once again, parents work hard to set up a new apartment for the recent college grad or help the newlyweds find their first house or paint a nursery.
Move-in days never end.
You will never want to be without them.
August 26, 2006
May 15
Don’t Forget My Senior Discount
“‘Only $4.68,’ he said cheerfully. I stood there stupefied. I am 48, not
even 50 yet—a mere child! Senior Citizen (discount)? I took my burrito
and walked out to the truck wondering what was wrong.”
—David McClure The Dallas Morning News Community Opinion
The first time I was asked by a cashier if I wanted the “senior-coffee discount” I was indignant.
Now, I gladly pay half-price or less and smile back.
Since I first wrote awhile back about my chagrin and outright disdain at being asked if I wanted a senior discount, things have changed.
I signed up for early Social Security and now look forward to my instant direct deposit like the best of them.
I order senior portions at restaurants.
And yes, I now take the senior-coffee discount at McDonald’s without complaint.
Let’s just call it a rite of passage into the world of seniors. Now, I sort of like it.
The evolution and transformation in my thinking began when a young cashier, all of twelve in my humble view, charged me $0.27 for a cup of coffee rather than full price.
She didn’t ask if I was a “senior”; she assumed.
“Twenty-seven cents?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes,” she said. “I gave you the senior discount.”
“And what age would that be,” I replied sternly.
A look of horror swept over her face as she realized what she said and the grave sin she had committed.
All women know innately that to assume another woman’s age is tantamount to, shall we say, murder?
This young thing was beginning to figure out that it is not a good idea to tell a woman she is your senior. It is just fine if she tells you, but not a good plan to mention that fact to her first.
I give the youngster some credit for figuring this out so quickly; however, she would not raise her head or look at me for the rest of the transaction. She just mumbled, “Well, you can get it at any age.”
Nice catch.
The first thing I did when I got in the car was to inspect my face carefully and critically in the car rearview mirror.
I should have looked in the mirror on the outside passenger side where a little sticker warns us that objects might appear differently than they really are.
That would have cushioned the blow somewhat.
No, I chose instead to look in the painfully honest, exactly like-it-is mirror inside the car in broad, unforgiving daylight.
Yes indeed, I believe I do qualify for the senior coffee discount after all.
But in this recession-stricken world in which we live, I’ll take that $0.27 any old day over the full-price $0.99 cup of coffee.
In fact, I am so excited now about senior discounts that I searched online for senior-discount-related apparel. Found a tote bag for me and hat for the hubby that has emblazoned upon them the phrase:
“Don’t forget my senior discount.”
We’ll only wear these when we travel. Don’t tell our kids!
September 30, 2010
May 21
New Book Now Available
The new book is now available for purchase from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other booksellers.
If you would like to purchase a signed edition and support a local independent bookstore, River Reader Bookstore in Lexington, Missouri will be launching the new book with a signing at their store at 1010 Main in historic downtown Lexington, Missouri on Sunday, June 26th at 2 p.m.
Hope to see you then.
Sep 11
New Book Coming Spring 2022
Musings of a Baby Boomer: Life Before X, Y, and Z
Published by Brown Books of Dallas, Texas
More details to come!