Friday was a whirlwind of last minute goodbyes and ‘must-dos‘, packing of the car just before the deluge struck and then out for supper with the oldest sister and her partner before settling in for a short night. I heard missy having a conversation at 2 a.m. (she maintains it was with the cat) and then it was up at 5 a.m. and on the road.
We made good time but no matter how well things go it’s at least a 6.5 hr drive to Fredericton. We arrived in time for the student to register, get moved in to her room on the 3rd floor (teams of strong backed assistants appeared to carry in fridges etc) and for me to attend an information session while she settled in and got to know her roommate. Basically parental involvement includes transportation, physical exertion, handing over all your money and then leaving. Since I’ve been doing this is various forms for five years it goes pretty smoothly and I was pleased to see the baby daughter getting involved with Orientation Week activities as I drove away.Not sure why some parents were having trouble leaving but maybe they were new at it. I made it home before 10 p.m. so considered I’d done well.
Today I was very busy rearranging the house and now that I‘ve stopped I‘m not sure I can get out of the chair. The cats have been confused with the changes but are okay with it now as you can see from Stanley‘s nap. First I made up the ‘sort of spare’ bed in UNB student’s room - it was necessary to cover all surfaces to prevent flocking by cat fur. Hadn't seen the floor in there for a bit due to all the packing. One thing led to another and I ended up cleaning the hall closet even!
Then I attacked what has become the den (or Man Cave to use language I found in today’s newspaper) and that turned into an all day project. I phoned a friend to see if she could use some twin sheets “no more single beds here” I told her and she asked about a bed for her son. That started the process as she dispatched her husband less than an hour later to check out the bed. Before you knew it the bed was dismantled on the back of his truck and the TV was moved (under protest - from the life partner and threats - no more brown bread from me) to the den. There was some muttering of ‘I don’t even have anything to sit on’ from the TV watcher but I soon fetched a rocking chair and that was it. The room is fairly compact so the large television makes it seem like a home theatre and there is no one complaining about the noise so mister is actually settling in quite well. I remembered a reclining chair and footstool from the old house which I fetched this evening as well. This is just a temporary plan as we’re searching for a futon which will give us an extra bed, fit on that wall and give a horizontal position for the TV watcher.
Cannot believe that tomorrow is the last day of a 10 day break - where did it go? It’s been nice to have these last two days to regroup before I have to hit the ground running again. There is even talk of going to see the movie tomorrow night - woohoo!
