Our First College Open House

I took my son up to Castleton State College in Vermont last weekend. It was the college's open house, and it was impressive to me to see how many potential students and parents showed up - some from as far away as Florida and (I think it was) Oklahoma. The professors we met were great. To tell the truth, just being on the campus was a great feeling.

Unfortunately, I never was part of the college experience. I did my studies here and there, grabbing courses and finishing my BS online - Oakton Community College, Roosevelt University, and California Coast University. I even got a semester and a half under my belt towards my MBA at Colorado State (go Rams!). I call it "lifus interuptus" - having to work right out of high school, getting married just before I turned 30, and having a baby at 34. I guess I'm hoping to experience campus life vicariously through my son. And I can live with that. In fact, I think it's great. I'm terribly excited for him.

My ex-husband is concerned about our son being interested in Castleton. Seems he doesn't appreciate the demographics because our son is biracial. Personally, I think he's being a little paranoid. I have total faith in my son and his approach to things. Yes, he can be a little headstrong sometimes, but with each passing day he is maturing and it's awesome to see. I believe he will survive and thrive no matter where he chooses to go to college.

Now funding is another story. Will we be able to afford Castleton? I'm not sure at this point. I wish my son would choose a Maryland college so we wouldn't have to pay out of state tuition. But regardless, I'll do whatever I can to help him. Don't most parents?

It's going to be a gorgeous day in Maryland today. I'm going to see the high school play tonight (my son is one of the lighting techs) and I know I'll have a great time. The drama teacher there is very talented and puts on a good show because she's got a great group of students involved in the play.

I hope everyone has a great day today!

I love a challenge!

I'm having a lot of fun with Writers Digest's Poem a Day celebrating National Poetry Month in April. You're given a writing prompt as the theme of the poem, and then you create your masterpiece. Three down, twenty-seven to go!

My son is having a party today for his friend who joined the Air Force and leaves for training on Tuesday. He's a great kid, and I'll be sorry to see him leave. He is one of my son's nicest friends, always smiling, always joking around. I hope for all the best for him.

I'm getting so excited about Spring. We had to cut the grass last weekend, flowers are starting to bloom, and the trees have buds. I love this time of year almost as much as I love Autumn. Allergies, of course, are a problem during Spring - but we all survive and move easily into doing all of the outside things we like to do.

Things are going well between Jamie and me. We seem to finally be settling into all of the "knowns" of each other - all of the weird little things (or maybe not so weird) that make us different. We're more accepting of our little quirks and habits - the things it really takes time to get to know. Ain't love grand?

One last thing - I love Twitter. It's like instant news from all the people you are following there. I was happy to see my favorite author, Chris Bohjalian, on Twitter. If it hadn't been posted there, I wouldn't have known he was doing an hour-long show on NCPR, which I was able to listen to via iTunes. It's always interesting to me to hear how an author came up with his/her idea for a story, how they created their characters, and how they feel about those characters. Chris had visited our facility a couple of years ago and spoke about his book, The Double Bind. What a wonderful novel! His newest one, Skeletons at the Feast, is an awesome read. I highly recommend his books to everyone!