Ugh, i’m starting to bore myself with the last several photos. But, hey, these moments do accurately capture what’s happening with me and how I’m spending my time from day to day, no matter how boring. So I guess I need to do something about that and then I should have better material to work with.
Let’s see, where are we in the year…. mid August. The last vacation I took was back in February (which was WONDERFUL, by the way). Monte and I discussed when to plan our next week off. It’s looking like end of September. I hope I make it that long!
I took a little trip down memory lane today…. On one my conference calls, a colleague said he was taking a couple days off to drive his daughter to college, out of state. It’s exciting and a big deal for their whole family. Several of my friends are getting ready to do the same thing this time of year. My thoughts turned back to the weeks before I went to college. I was 17. At that time I had been living in Spain for 3 years without a visit back to the States. I was SO ready to go back to “civilization” I couldn’t stand it. My mom, dad and 2 younger sisters were staying on in Spain for another couple of years. So, I packed up my belongings for my trip back over the pond. My older brother had left for college the summer before. He and my older sister were visiting Madrid for the summer, and I flew back with them a week or so before I had to show up at freshman orientation. I can’t recall how I got to WSU from the west side. I assume Noreen drove me. But after that I was pretty much on my own — or at least I felt like it. I can only imagine how hard it was for my mom to say goodbye to her kids one-by-one and not see them for a year or more at a time. Equally hard to understand that dad left home when he was 21 and it was 34 years before he went back to Ireland for a visit.
Anyway… it was (gulp) 28 years ago that I went off to college. It’s certainly been a fun and interesting ride. I am looking forward to the next 28.
…..I think I’ll call my mom tonight.
Sheila365 