College Daze

My eldest son is coming home from UNC on Tuesday. I know this isn't a particularly flattering picture of Tom, but I'm expecting to get a lot of these looks this coming summer. This is his first extended time home -- after all the freedom he's enjoyed during the last school year. I guess I should get ready to be suddenly stupid.

His dad is out getting the truck ready by removing the teenage friendly muffler that gives instant headaches to any adult driver, and installing the original, quiet one. Then he'll remove all the seats from my van so we can head to Chapel Hill tomorrow morning and pack up Tom's room while he's taking his last final. He has to vacate the dorm the same day he takes a final? That doesn't seem fair to me. And thus we need to pack for him? I don't seem to recall my parents doing this for me. Or has age affected my memory?

Food Lion will love Tom coming home. Our food expenditures dwindled while he was away, but now they should triple with his hollow legs that never seem to fill.

And the quiet will be shattered with constant noise, confusion, and mess. Talk about mess! I don't think that boy ever picks up after himself. As a friend of mine told me just the other day, there's got to be some rules made for these college kids. Not difficult ones - just simple things like: Put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Throw out your own trash. Do your own laundry. Tell me when you're going out - and when we should expect you home. I think that will be the most difficult to follow. It was for me when I was his age.

Oh, but the house will also be filled with sounds of laughter, and music, and whispers, and thumps as the boys wrestle their welcome home into each other. And calls of "Mom, where's my ......." and the occasional yells at each other.

I hope the ceiling holds up. :^))


Is it ready for school to begin again?