As it should be
4.18.09
Claire and I had dinner with Sean tonight, but Alex is out of town, so he missed it. It was the first time we could do it since we talked about it two weeks ago or so, and so we’d all been planning for it and looking forward to it. With that kind of a build-up, I might have been setting myself up for disappointment had I not been in the relaxed state of mind that I was (thankfully) in.
I was late (as always), but I was still surprised to see him waiting outside — in the rain, no less — which he explained by saying that he thought he was late. We had hugs, and it was good.
We went to our favorite pizza spot; it seems to be our “family place” and is often our celebratory place. We caught up on life from our perspective, and from his. He’s been to his academic advisor and thus is ready to sign up for classes for the fall when his turn comes up online tomorrow night. (Where have the days of standing at the Cow Palace gone? These kids today know nothing of running from building to building in a frenzy, trying to convince TAs to open up more sections of filled classes.)
He’s figuring out more direction on his double major — a direction that Alex may not like — but I know this is Sean’s battle to fight if there’s to be any battle at all. And (after I had told him that they were going on), he had attended the Undergraduate Symposium on Thursday at Memorial Union, as well as the Engineering Expo on Friday, which he used to attend (and love) as an elementary school student. He took the other three guys in his singing quartet along so that they could be impressed by the engineering marvels, too. He saw many interesting and intriguing things, and said that it almost made him wish he was an engineering major — almost.
After dinner, we went back to Sean’s room to begin doing as directed by the letter that we received from the Housing office the other day — to start taking things home before the weekend after finals. I had three large laundry baskets with me for this purpose, and we filled them all, plus took a milk crate and freakishly heavy shelf. (Claire and I were amazed, unloading it all from the minivan at home, that he had fit it all into his room — and there was certainly plenty of stuff left for future trips!)
After we schlepped the three baskets, crate, and shelf down to the lobby, a bunch of students returning from a choral concert featuring Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem (those music majors, always doing erudite things on Saturday nights) hailed Sean, and he seemed like quite the popular fellow. It could have been just a coincidence, or maybe he actually has more friends than he lets on.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing Sean again until the opening night of the show that he’s in, which is also after finals. He’ll have gone through a lot by then, and I’ll be curious to see how he’s weathered it. I suspect he’ll be very tired, but will have done just fine — and will be very glad to come home.
I call this entry “As it should be” because tonight seemed that way: I wasn’t emotional; Sean wasn’t emotional. We had an open talk, shared some laughs, and of course I had to give some motherly advice (as did Claire — she’s never shy about sharing her opinions), as well as some tasks to follow up on — and thankfully, he received it all quite politely as he usually does. So it was just “normal” — as it should be.
I was late (as always), but I was still surprised to see him waiting outside — in the rain, no less — which he explained by saying that he thought he was late. We had hugs, and it was good.
We went to our favorite pizza spot; it seems to be our “family place” and is often our celebratory place. We caught up on life from our perspective, and from his. He’s been to his academic advisor and thus is ready to sign up for classes for the fall when his turn comes up online tomorrow night. (Where have the days of standing at the Cow Palace gone? These kids today know nothing of running from building to building in a frenzy, trying to convince TAs to open up more sections of filled classes.)
He’s figuring out more direction on his double major — a direction that Alex may not like — but I know this is Sean’s battle to fight if there’s to be any battle at all. And (after I had told him that they were going on), he had attended the Undergraduate Symposium on Thursday at Memorial Union, as well as the Engineering Expo on Friday, which he used to attend (and love) as an elementary school student. He took the other three guys in his singing quartet along so that they could be impressed by the engineering marvels, too. He saw many interesting and intriguing things, and said that it almost made him wish he was an engineering major — almost.
After dinner, we went back to Sean’s room to begin doing as directed by the letter that we received from the Housing office the other day — to start taking things home before the weekend after finals. I had three large laundry baskets with me for this purpose, and we filled them all, plus took a milk crate and freakishly heavy shelf. (Claire and I were amazed, unloading it all from the minivan at home, that he had fit it all into his room — and there was certainly plenty of stuff left for future trips!)
After we schlepped the three baskets, crate, and shelf down to the lobby, a bunch of students returning from a choral concert featuring Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem (those music majors, always doing erudite things on Saturday nights) hailed Sean, and he seemed like quite the popular fellow. It could have been just a coincidence, or maybe he actually has more friends than he lets on.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing Sean again until the opening night of the show that he’s in, which is also after finals. He’ll have gone through a lot by then, and I’ll be curious to see how he’s weathered it. I suspect he’ll be very tired, but will have done just fine — and will be very glad to come home.
I call this entry “As it should be” because tonight seemed that way: I wasn’t emotional; Sean wasn’t emotional. We had an open talk, shared some laughs, and of course I had to give some motherly advice (as did Claire — she’s never shy about sharing her opinions), as well as some tasks to follow up on — and thankfully, he received it all quite politely as he usually does. So it was just “normal” — as it should be.
