Spring semester classes began on Tuesday, January 22 for my student as well as for many of yours. For my student, that meant new professor names to learn, new classrooms to locate on campus, a reloaded Mason bucks account to spend, and a return to going to bed at a reasonable hour Monday through Friday. For me, the Spring semester has brought changes, too. I have to find a new phone/text/Facebook-messaging window with my student because he is free to talk at a different time now than it was in the Fall. I also hear some new voices in the background of his room that I don’t yet recognize, and with this cold weather, I find myself often wondering, “Is he remembering to wear a scarf, gloves, and the heavy winter jacket, not the thin, Spring jacket? Did he ever find his umbrella in his residence hall room that I know was there in the Fall, but he swears it wasn’t? “Ah, the joys of empty nesting and pondering what your student is up to in your absence.
Household routines change now, too. I was slow in doing it, but I finally returned the car radio presets to my talk radio stations and not the music stations he and I listen to together when he is home from Mason. The cookies, chips, and frozen foods that only he eats are pushed to the back of the pantry and freezer now. His room is quiet again – no more loud music or video games played in there. My supply of Tide detergent, the internet bandwidth usage, and my extra cash, have all returned to the empty-nester couple rate instead of the holiday family rate. The glorious anticipation and reunion of being with my student over Winter Break is over, and I will miss all the texture, sound, companionship, humor, and love my student provides when he is home. But I know, in a month or so, my mind will be busy planning what wonderful things we will do together next. In the meantime, I can get in those phone calls and texts to fill in the gaps.
Greetings to you all,
Michelle McKinney
Member
Parent and Family Council