Friday, December 02, 2011

reverb11 day 2 - my children will do it differently

Here we go! Day two's prompt asks: If you could choose one thing that your children will do or experience in a different way than you have, what would it be and why?

I’ve had a lucky life. It’s true. I had a pretty blessed childhood, and my teen years were fairly ideal as well, although I never would have said that at the time. When I read this prompt, I read it to mean what about my childhood would I change so that my children (child, in my case) would experience it differently. And this is what I came up with:

 An experience that I hope Jane has that I didn’t, to its fullest potential, anyway,  is going away to college. In fact, I did live on-campus for my first semester of college, but I quickly decided to change my major to secondary education, and the best university for that degree was 20 minutes from my house. So rather than live on-campus, I commuted here. I paid for college myself, and it would have been insane to spend the money on housing if my own house was so close. However.

Yes, I loved college. Yes, I spent a decent amount of time on dorm room floors, partying, whatnot. But living at home - no matter how little time I actually spent there (basically just to sleep) -  is just not the same as living away (as I well learned when I returned home from that one semester away).

Will it break my heart to see her pack her things up (very eagerly, I’m sure) and (very happily, dammit) walk away from us for months at a time? Oh yes. Do I have a lump in my throat RIGHT NOW just thinking about it? Maaybe. But it’s an experience I want for her so much.

I don’t want her to go too far. Greg went to UConn, which is about 45 minutes away from here. Far enough to live on-campus, but close enough for her to come home when she needs mommy. Or, far more likely, when mommy needs her.

6 comments:

jason said...

Its so hard to know what the future will hold, that said, as long as you give her love and respect, she will be heading off to college knowing full well that she cam always come home. No matter what happens I am sure she will have a firm idea in her mind that her family loves her. We all know it from way over here.

Dwayne "The Train" said...

breastfeeding. i am pretty sure that i did not get this experience as a child (at least not that i remember), and i am pretty sure it is something that i would have truly enjoyed. a lot.

you see, i was adopted when i was only a couple months old, and while my parents did a lot of things right, this is one area where they utterly, completely, absolutely, entirely, thoroughly failed me. i mean, they have wet nurses for a reason, right?

a god as my witness, my child(s) will know the joy of tasting boob milk straight from boob source.

#reverb11

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: DO NOT GOOGLE WET NURSE WHEN AT WORK. #AWKWARD

also, here’s my reply to yesterday’s prompt: DOCTOR WHO

lgaumond said...

I agree (to be clear, I agree WITH AMANDA).

I was too scared and attached to home to go further than West Hartford for college. I always wished I had had the guts to go to school in Colorado or California, or hell, even Rhode Island instead of wimping out and staying in Connecticut.

I want that for Jane, too. Maybe she could go to school in California and Auntie Lisa could come visit her in the winter months. Make sure she gets a big dorm room.

Kim said...

This is an awesome, and probably very original take on the prompt. Getting to go away from home is a very concrete goal, but it is the beginning of SO much. And 45 minutes is a very safe distance ;) Time to start buying her college logo sweats?!

Unknown said...

Oh yes, the joy of living on campus. I thrived and loved every single moment of it. I am hoping AnneShirley will go to our alma mater but of course we'll support wherever she goes. I look forward to creating care packages for her and hearing her stories. But not yet of course. That can wait. :) Thanks for such a great post.

Stereo said...

I have always maintained that the first year of university when I was living on campus was one of the best years of my life. I often return there in my head and relive the awesome.

As you said, no doubt it will be difficult to watch Jane march off to her new digs but it is a selfless and loving thing to still want your child to experience things that you didn't. This was lovely.