Well, H and I are about to leave our home/city. He has lived here his entire life, and I have been here for 28 years. The packers have been with us for the past two days, and our life has been reduced to mountains of cardboard boxes. The 18 wheeler moving van arrives in the morning and on Friday H and I pull out of Dallas with 2 cars, 3 cats, 1 large dog and a small travel trailer. Our new home in Nashville is ready and waiting. I'm glad I got to be in Nashville the past 7 weeks to get used to my new job and my new city. I know we will be happy, but that doesn't make the moving process any easier. We have never done anything like this, and I really wish we could get rid of another half of our possessions. I haven't seen my daughter since the end of May when we were all together for WildChild's high school graduation on the east coast. She went from there to her California summer internship and then back to Rice for her senior year without crossing paths with me. She and her boyfriend are coming to see our new home in two weeks, so I'm excited about that. WildChild spent a few days in Nashville and seems to be OK with the move. He is a Texan by birth and at heart- managed to win third prize at the Penn orientation week toga party with his cowboy toga rendition (I KNEW there was a reason we pay that high tuition). H and I took some time off from the moving process to go to Penn to help WildChild get settled and visit family.
Thanks to all for the tips on life in Nashville. I am getting my bearings and have found food, shopping and an Episcopal church on the right side of the issues dividing us (or should I say the LEFT side....).
Pot is a big deal- alcohol is not. If the alcohol violations are repeated and/or indicate an addiction, it's a different story.
Northstarmom- I did a LOT of research over the last two years on what types of disciplinary issues or character indicators affect admissions. I have talked to many admissions folks as well as prep school college counselors, as has S's college counselor. I have a very good feel for what matters and what doesn't. A single alcohol violation is simply not indicative of ANYTHING. In fact, I was actually told that some schools like to see a "lesson learned" rather than an "I have never broken a single rule, but just wait until I get to college!" The thousands and thousands of high school students who experiment with alcohol are not all going to die from alcohol poisoning at college. Nor are they going to binge drink or flunk out of school. An unfortunate few will, but experimenting with alcohol in high school is not a predictor.
I know a young man who is a junior at Swarthmore. He was kicked out of a day prep school after his junior year due to repeated alcohol infractions. He didn't have any trouble whatsoever getting into select colleges. My son was suspended and expelled from a prep boarding school. He had all sorts of things to report. There wasn't one selective college that even gave pause. He did it, he regretted it, he learned from it and he matured.
Do you really think these colleges are looking for a whole population of kids who have never pushed the envelope?
My kids don't smoke, but they both tell me MANY of their peers smoked all through high school (and now college). I simply can not understand it. I can understand how my generation thought it was grown-up and cool to smoke, but with all the health information out there now, it just does not make sense to me. I heard a lot of girls smoke for supposed weight control.
There is not a whole lot a parent can do about smoking. It is very easy to obtain the product and while it is technically illegal for a minor to purchase cigs, it isn't a big crime, and in some circles it is still "the thing to do". It is pretty easy to hide the habit from parents- as you pointed out, "I smell like smoke because my friends were smoking!"
I think this is something kids have to figure out for themselves. All you can do is educate them. My husband and I are competitive runners and have never smoked. One kid is a vocal performance major and won't even go to smokey bars, and the other is a runner himself.
I love it, karen stops in a help a kid stop smoking thread by saying you cannot help at all, and by the way, my family is perfect. The sad story of Karen enters a new chapter. :rofl:
