MR TWISTER
08-12-2006, 02:46 AM
...moving on to college. It is officially the week before in my house. The week before what you might ask? It is the week before my youngest son the wrestler officially moves out and on to college.
This has been a long time coming. Today is the "trunk party" at my house, in the back yard. Now this type of party is something I just learned existed about a month ago. It is sort of like a bridal shower for college freshmen where all of his friends bring gifts and have a final sendoff to college. It involves a list that is posted at his or hers favorite store of things they need for school. This party and the gifts is suspose to help ease the financial burden of buying school supplies. A novel idea and we will see how it all works out. For the last month he has been going to these trunk parties for all of his other friends and taking gifts so the whole thing seems like a wash to me but what does a soon to be empty nester know. By the way, parents beware! Having these parties are expensive. We even have a D.J. so I hope he has some old school music since it is costing me.
His college roomates are three other wrestlers at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and they are moving in on Monday. We make the big trip this Friday. And that in itself has become an issue too. First tons of family members wanted to ride so we ended up renting a big vehicle to accomidate humans and possesions. You would think the poor kid is going off to war instead of college. I just don't remember it being this involved back in the seventies when I left for school. My mother and father said goodby and I got on a bus with a few dreams, a couple of bags and some money. Thirty years later it seems a lot more complicated.
The actual room is really an apartment so that involves all kinds of extras like cable, telephone/utilities, parking and furniture. Although the apartment is beautiful, what ever happened to roughing it in the coffin size dorm rooms of old. I actually got a call from the Nebraska cable service the other day to setup DSL and cable t.v. We never lived so good in college. Each living room has a big screen t.v. yet the individuals are bringing laptops, smaller refrigs, lamps, playstations, DVD players, microwaves and all kinds of other room accesories. The kitchen is state of the art. I was wondering if anyone noticed how the big box stores are targeting us parents with the "off to college" sales. Everything is available. Laptops for $800, refrigerators for $100 and bed ware for under $50. These wrestlers are going to live better in college than at home.
And then there is the car. To bring or not. UNO allows freshmen to have cars on campus. I read a new study that says a car on campus is a must these days and a great status symbol with the oposite sex. No wonder he was bugging me for the car. The kid is smarter than he looks. But I am wondering if other parents have thought about what if there is a repair that needs to be made? Do we just send money or can the kid who just jumps in and drives be able to replace a battery, tire, alternator or the like? I do however know he is proficent at installing a radio, amplifier and subwolfer. But those thing don't make the car go foward. Oh well I will close my eyes on this one as the final week begins and just pray. After all college is about learning and all learning is not done in the classroom.
So as the countdown begins once again I reflect back to the long road it took to getting my youngest one out the door. Both athletically and academically it has been a journey. Along the way it has been fun. I just wonder are other parents experiencing the week before syndromes too? No matter how much we planned or saved who could expected plane fares or gas to be so high. I am afraid to even attempt to calculate what it will cost to drive six and a half hours these days. And I guess flying is just out of the question unless you are going naked. Once he leaves will these prices make it impossible to ever see him again. But thank God for the wrestling scholarship. It does help. I wonder how a parent that is paying it all out of the pocket does it? I know we could not of.
I am wondering what it will be like at our house without the wrestler around. Always the noisy kid, he has been like a constant moving hurricane the last 18 years. The doors to our house are always swinging open with an assortment of wrestlers coming by, raiding the refridgerator if not cutting weight or begging to use the digital scale if they were overweight. The Playstation and stereo is always on. It seems everyone checks their My Space and Facebook accounts on his computer. Now this will all come to an end and our house will go silent. Our house has always been the meeting place or gathering spot in the neighborhood and he was always the conductor of the group. Next week it seems like all of these boys are leaving at the same time and no one under the age of 40 will come to visit us unannounced. Is this a good thing? I for one will kind of miss those wrestlers.
Just the other day he remarked how he is going to miss all of us. Yet he is the comedian that keeps everyone laughing at jokes, outragous outfits or just plain stupidity. Now no one can provide that except rare visit's on holiday's, if that happens. Even his dog that we got 14 years ago is getting old. I am wondering how he will adjust to not being able to wrestle the wrestler anymore? There is nothing like seeing a human and a dog go takedowns with the dog in a singlet. So will he miss us or will we miss him?
And because of all of these thoughts I have not had time to worry about will he succced or fail on the mat. I guess that will come in time. Do other parents that are sending their kids this week have these same thoughts or am I alone? Is the wrestling success even important compared to the life experiences the wrestler will gain while at college? Or are they tied together?
But in the end it will all be worth it. Seeing the kid take the final step towards growing up will be great. Seven more days. I know my wife will cry. She did with the oldest kid and she will with this one. But raising a family is about pushing them out the nest. Besides I can still go to the matches, they will just be farther away. But now I can keep his room neat. I will miss all of the noise in the house yet will have full control of the big screen remote. There are tradeoffs in life.
Did I mention that my oldest the football player returned home last week as a college graduate? No job or apartment yet but he does have the sheepskin. I send one off to college and one returns. And he is the quite one. Another tradeoff I guess. A new countdown begins.
This has been a long time coming. Today is the "trunk party" at my house, in the back yard. Now this type of party is something I just learned existed about a month ago. It is sort of like a bridal shower for college freshmen where all of his friends bring gifts and have a final sendoff to college. It involves a list that is posted at his or hers favorite store of things they need for school. This party and the gifts is suspose to help ease the financial burden of buying school supplies. A novel idea and we will see how it all works out. For the last month he has been going to these trunk parties for all of his other friends and taking gifts so the whole thing seems like a wash to me but what does a soon to be empty nester know. By the way, parents beware! Having these parties are expensive. We even have a D.J. so I hope he has some old school music since it is costing me.
His college roomates are three other wrestlers at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and they are moving in on Monday. We make the big trip this Friday. And that in itself has become an issue too. First tons of family members wanted to ride so we ended up renting a big vehicle to accomidate humans and possesions. You would think the poor kid is going off to war instead of college. I just don't remember it being this involved back in the seventies when I left for school. My mother and father said goodby and I got on a bus with a few dreams, a couple of bags and some money. Thirty years later it seems a lot more complicated.
The actual room is really an apartment so that involves all kinds of extras like cable, telephone/utilities, parking and furniture. Although the apartment is beautiful, what ever happened to roughing it in the coffin size dorm rooms of old. I actually got a call from the Nebraska cable service the other day to setup DSL and cable t.v. We never lived so good in college. Each living room has a big screen t.v. yet the individuals are bringing laptops, smaller refrigs, lamps, playstations, DVD players, microwaves and all kinds of other room accesories. The kitchen is state of the art. I was wondering if anyone noticed how the big box stores are targeting us parents with the "off to college" sales. Everything is available. Laptops for $800, refrigerators for $100 and bed ware for under $50. These wrestlers are going to live better in college than at home.
And then there is the car. To bring or not. UNO allows freshmen to have cars on campus. I read a new study that says a car on campus is a must these days and a great status symbol with the oposite sex. No wonder he was bugging me for the car. The kid is smarter than he looks. But I am wondering if other parents have thought about what if there is a repair that needs to be made? Do we just send money or can the kid who just jumps in and drives be able to replace a battery, tire, alternator or the like? I do however know he is proficent at installing a radio, amplifier and subwolfer. But those thing don't make the car go foward. Oh well I will close my eyes on this one as the final week begins and just pray. After all college is about learning and all learning is not done in the classroom.
So as the countdown begins once again I reflect back to the long road it took to getting my youngest one out the door. Both athletically and academically it has been a journey. Along the way it has been fun. I just wonder are other parents experiencing the week before syndromes too? No matter how much we planned or saved who could expected plane fares or gas to be so high. I am afraid to even attempt to calculate what it will cost to drive six and a half hours these days. And I guess flying is just out of the question unless you are going naked. Once he leaves will these prices make it impossible to ever see him again. But thank God for the wrestling scholarship. It does help. I wonder how a parent that is paying it all out of the pocket does it? I know we could not of.
I am wondering what it will be like at our house without the wrestler around. Always the noisy kid, he has been like a constant moving hurricane the last 18 years. The doors to our house are always swinging open with an assortment of wrestlers coming by, raiding the refridgerator if not cutting weight or begging to use the digital scale if they were overweight. The Playstation and stereo is always on. It seems everyone checks their My Space and Facebook accounts on his computer. Now this will all come to an end and our house will go silent. Our house has always been the meeting place or gathering spot in the neighborhood and he was always the conductor of the group. Next week it seems like all of these boys are leaving at the same time and no one under the age of 40 will come to visit us unannounced. Is this a good thing? I for one will kind of miss those wrestlers.
Just the other day he remarked how he is going to miss all of us. Yet he is the comedian that keeps everyone laughing at jokes, outragous outfits or just plain stupidity. Now no one can provide that except rare visit's on holiday's, if that happens. Even his dog that we got 14 years ago is getting old. I am wondering how he will adjust to not being able to wrestle the wrestler anymore? There is nothing like seeing a human and a dog go takedowns with the dog in a singlet. So will he miss us or will we miss him?
And because of all of these thoughts I have not had time to worry about will he succced or fail on the mat. I guess that will come in time. Do other parents that are sending their kids this week have these same thoughts or am I alone? Is the wrestling success even important compared to the life experiences the wrestler will gain while at college? Or are they tied together?
But in the end it will all be worth it. Seeing the kid take the final step towards growing up will be great. Seven more days. I know my wife will cry. She did with the oldest kid and she will with this one. But raising a family is about pushing them out the nest. Besides I can still go to the matches, they will just be farther away. But now I can keep his room neat. I will miss all of the noise in the house yet will have full control of the big screen remote. There are tradeoffs in life.
Did I mention that my oldest the football player returned home last week as a college graduate? No job or apartment yet but he does have the sheepskin. I send one off to college and one returns. And he is the quite one. Another tradeoff I guess. A new countdown begins.