A computer has become an essential tool for college. However, like all computers, sometimes computers at college don't function like they are supposed to, and most of the time you have to get plugged into the college internet service. At times that's as easy as plugging it in. In my experience, most of the time It's not that easy. My daughter and I had to go to the technical support building three times. The first time we went they said we had to go back and get Kat’s laptop. (We just wanted a network cord, which they were distributing free of charge.) We went back to her room and returned with her laptop. Then they told us that they were out of the network cords. So they set her laptop up for wireless. After they did this, they told us that her dorm didn’t get wireless. Even after we’d bought a network cord, Kat still couldn’t get the internet. So we went to tech support again. One of the support people from the day before had left his IP number on her computer, so it wouldn’t work in her dorm room. Although the support team was set up outside, (more sweating), they did give us free cold drinks and hot dogs. That was lunch on Saturday.
Sometime between the second and third trip to technical support, we went to buy Kat’s books. Kat's last college only has one bookstore where you can purchase textbooks, but there are four in this college town, two of them right next door to each other. When we went to the first one, they didn’t have any used books for Kat’s courses. Used books can save you a fortune, so Kat stayed at the first bookstore with her textbooks while I went next door to see if they had any used books for her courses. In both bookstores, people came right up to us and helped us find the books. In the second store, Jay, the man in charge, came up to me. I explained that Kat was next door with her books, and that I had come looking for used textbooks. He promptly told me that even if they didn’t have used copies that their prices were lower. We found 4 or 5 used ones and a new one that was 95 cents lower than at the other bookstore. They were missing two of the books, which we had found at the other store. I told Jay I would go get Kat and we would purchase the books he had. While we were purchasing Kat's books at Jay's bookstore, he gave Kat a free notebook and both of us free soft drinks. Competition is a wonderful thing when you are the buyer.
An essential part of every trip to take your kid to college is the marathon WalMart trip. This takes hours, especially if it’s the weekend before the local schools begin, as it was last weekend. It makes sense not to pack all the laundry soap and school supplies, but it does make for a very long shopping trip. And we didn’t start this marathon shopping expedition until about 9 p.m. We’d heard that WalMart was out of the network cords, so we also stopped at Staples before we even went to WalMart. Both of our feet were aching before the first hour was up.
When we got back to the dorm at 11 p.m., they weren’t renting the WalMart carts anymore, so we had to carry most of it up to the dorm room. We did use Kat’s rolling laundry hamper for one trip, and that helped. I recommend that you take a dolly or even just a collapsible luggage cart with you, in case your school doesn’t rent out WalMart carts. Kat wanted me to stay and help her put everything away, but I was totally exhausted and probably somewhat dehydrated, despite the free water and soft drinks. I begged off and went back to my motel room.
I intended to leave after church on Sunday, but Kat wanted me to stay longer. How could I refuse? I knew I was going back to an empty house, (not counting my two dogs), so staying with my daughter for a little while longer wasn’t a tough sell. I told her I just wanted to get home by dark, which, these days in Houston, is a little after 8 p.m. It’s a three hour drive without stops. I left at 4:30 p.m. I stopped once at a truck stop, where I bought a “The Best of Linda Ronstadt” CD. I sang loudly, if not well, the rest of the way home. When I turned into my driveway it was almost 8 p.m. I was happy to be home and my dogs were ecstatic to see me, but I now have a very empty nest. It seems like only yesterday that there were four people living in my house.
If any of you would like to share your stories about taking a child to college or your empty nest, please post a comment. It helps to know you're not alone in this situation.
Blessings,
Bonnie
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