Day in the Life of an Idiot

 
Image: Shawn shows off her real life Tetris skillz in a storage locker.

Today was the unfun day. We had to help Mason pack up his apartment/dorm and somehow get it into a storage space that he was sharing with... a half dozen others? A lot. So many that the woman who organized it was sweating that it wasn't actually all going to work. Luckily, we had a secret weapon: Shawn Rounds.

We started around 9:30am and Mason is only just finishing with everyone now (at 6:30 pm.) 

But, it's done, and everyone is in.

A moving out day miracle.

 
Image: My nightmare... AND the name of my son's interest house.

I wonder how many other Wesleyan parents saw this and had a chill run down their spine. I almost stood in front of it and screamed, "NOOOO! I have books due at the end of the year!!"

But, I decided to spare Mason my melodrama. 

I'm so adult. 

Also, it decided to rain buckets on us. Apparently, this was the tail end of Ida? I don't understand hurricanes, of course, being a Midwesterner. However, we did get quite wet moving things in. The dorm is actually pretty decent for what it is--a block building that has housed a lot of students over the years. Mason really lucked out, however, in that he got a corner room (he only shares one wall with another person) and he got one of the giant windows.  He'll have lots of natural light and air. 

Of course, the first thing we brought in and unpacked were his books.


Image: Mason, proud, in front of his newly unpacked books. 

There were a bunch of activities that they wanted us parents to do after moving in, but the downpour made us change our minds. We did a little walking around campus, had the lunch provided us at the cafeteria, and then headed back to the hotel.



We might have hung around, except that our car decided to make a very unpleasant grinding noise somewhere in Massachusetts a few days ago, and so I was anxious to see if we could find a repair shop. The sound started in the Catskills and so I was fairly concerned that we might be slipping our transmission or something EXPENSIVE. The guys at the shop were very New England and so I got along with them like a house on fire. We yelled good-naturally at each other for awhile and they took a look at the car and, a few hours later, we were back on the road. Ironically the part they replaced is guaranteed for 2,000 miles. WHICH IS ALMOST EXACTLY THE DISTANCE WE'VE TRAVELLED. So, you know, I guess it's not surprising we needed a new one? 

The only other stresser is, of course, the eldest. We got a call late at night last night because our cat sitter had not seen Piggy in 48 hours. I listed a few favorite hiding places and she was found, alive. I... was kind of surprised at that last part, since I'd had a dream in Madison (48 hours or so ago!) that Ms. Piggy had tapped at my side of the bed like she does to ask for a lift up.  In my dream state, I had the strongest impression of lifting her on to the hotel bed, telling Shawn that Piggy was with us, and then falling asleep (in my dream!) to the sound of her purrs. Just now, while we were eating Shawn felt a visit, too, another one of her signature tap-taps. I'll be surprised if she DOESN'T pass while we're away. 

I feel bad for our cat sitter, but I tried to explain on the phone that the reason the other cats weren't leading her to Piggy was because death isn't an emergency, or a sickness, or wrong. It's just what happens to old cats.  It's so hard not to think of death as a crisis, but it really isn't? It's natural? But, I also understand why the cat sitter would be beside herself, even though we were very clear in our email to her that we expected this to happen and even left instructions on what to do with the body, if she did. 

But, apparently, she's hanging on?

I'm not quite sure what to hope for--that she still be with us by the time we come back or that she just passes easily while we're away.  

We all had a good cry about her last night, at any rate. Even Mason, because he was still with us then. 

Now, now he's off beginning a new phase in his life.