Thanksgiving Dilemma - Part 2

So glad it worked out for you and he is coming home. And the letter the gf wrote is a very good sign.

My oldest son is a sophomore at college far far away and his gf is a close 5 hr drive away. This will be the 2nd year he will go away for Thanksgiving with gf and friends from high school. This is also the 2nd year that we will NOT pay for his trip. He has full ROTC scholarship, room and board scholarship and that wonderful stipend that he uses to visit gf. Oh when will he run out of money?????

This year's trip will be hard on him financially...he's driving instead of flying and worked deals with friends so that he doesn't pay as much for hotel.... other parents are paying fpr friends trips so THAT doesn't help.

Rules: I pay to bring you home for holidays. You pay if you go somewhere else.

We've lived all over the world, he's traveled on his own since he was young, and I've raised this wonderfully independent kid you won't come home for Thanksgiving.

Last year I actually enjoyed having him home for Christmas.....he got his impacted wisdom teeth removed......:wink:
 
I've got to agree with you singaporemom, if I dared not go home for Thanksgiving, I wouldn't dream of asking my parents to pay for my way somewhere else. I guess it's a million years ago but things were different back in the ice ages of the'70's and '80's....:biggrin:
 
Ah- cmon guys- don't you recall being in College a long way from home and 19 or 20 years old? I also went to college "way back" in the 70's and never went home for Thanksgiving. It just was too far, for too short a period of time, travelling on the worst two days of the year. So- while I'm disappointed not to see my son this week, I absolutely understand and can relate to why he's enroute tomorrow to NoVa instead of enroute to Boston for a couple of days. We have bowed to this reality and made a new family tradition of sending a cake and cookies from the Dancing Deer Bakery in Boston to whatever family he is descending upon so that at least we can share dessert with them. (Dancing Deer by the way is a great online bakery that will supply all of your Cadet/Mid's needs for cakes; cookies; birthday cakes etc.. they have not yet let us down in supplying the myriad of emergency room mate birthdays, "breakout" celebrations; "thank you's" to parents driving kids from Dulles Airpt to VMI etc... ).
Sadly- our little kids are not little kids anymore and not necessarily coming home when they have a very short but much needed break from the nuthouse is just part of the package. But they'll be home for Christmas in less than a month so all is not lost quite yet!:thumb:
 
Bruno, I do remember being that young, but your circumstances are different since they are going to another state. Xsurfer's son was staying in the same town at his gf's home.

Sorry, but I would never be that cool to say "sure, we don't mind that we're paying for an airline ticket to come home, but you will be staying at her home, 5-10 miles away"
 
Pima said:
Bruno, I do remember being that young, but your circumstances are different since they are going to another state. Xsurfer's son was staying in the same town at his gf's home.

Sorry, but I would never be that cool to say "sure, we don't mind that we're paying for an airline ticket to come home, but you will be staying at her home, 5-10 miles away"
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Eh- you're probably right there- I wouldn't either. I haven't followed this whole thread so I don't think I saw that part of it. However, unless you are up until 2am I probably wouldn't expect to see him much other than Thanksgiving dinner if she's that close.

By the way- Happy Thanksgiving to all!
 
That would be fine by me, as long as he slept in our home and gave me 5 minutes in the day, I would be cool.
 
here is my point of view(an almost 21 year old cadet)

your son is being a little bit of a punk, if he is home he should see his parents at the very least because they want to see him. that being said, he obviously hasn't wised up to this and has other priorities. as parents i would urge you support whatever makes him happy. as 4/c he doesnt make enough money to pay for what he wants to do and i don't think you should push him with an ultimatum of "my way if i'm paying." i think in the end he will mature and wise up and thank you for helping him, but in the meantime don't hold on too tight and let him grow up.
 
I guess I was EXTREMELY fortunate...no, I KNOW I was.

I just climbed into the car and drove home: 1 hour.

And when I walked in, there was mom, smiling, and the house filled with the smells of her cooking! :thumb:

And then the "look" she had and the comment:

YOU'RE LATE! :eek:

I miss that. First Turkey Day without her.

All of you, regardless of whether you go home, visit friends, stay at the Zoo, Point, Yard, whatever...

CALL HOME AT LEAST!!!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83

Okay, climbing off my serious box now
 
[\QUOTE]So- while I'm disappointed not to see my son this week, I absolutely understand and can relate to why he's enroute tomorrow to NoVa instead of enroute to Boston for a couple of days. [/QUOTE]

Traffic on Mass Pike was HORRIBLE this past weekend!
 
Flieger, condolences on the first T Day without Mom. That is so so difficult.

I loved having my babies, er, cadets at home. Made me realize how BORING my DH and I are when it's just us. haha
 
Glass Half Full...Holidays Away

We had some "orphan mids" at the house with us here in Annapolis over Thanksgiving, for various reasons. It was a great opportunity to talk about how you get to expand your definition of family when serving in the military, as there will be many times when duty/distance interfere with spending holidays with blood relatives. Some of our most memorable holidays have been spent with friends and shipmates far from home, frequently at sea.

There was the time two newly-minted ensigns, far from home on Christmas Eve and feeling somewhat bereft of family, decided to rent Santa Claus suits and go trick-or-treating to senior officers' quarters at Naval Station Rota, Spain. Instant adoption, much laughter, great treats! One of the best photos in my ensign-days album. And, oh yeah, OF COURSE we had the duty on Christmas Day, as the most recently-arrived junior officers. And New Year's Day...

Sorry to take this off-thread, but a note to parents, your DS/DD will find family everywhere they go, across all services. That's one of the best intangibles of military service.:thumb:
 
Capt, that must be a military tradition, along with roof stomping. I remember living on base n the UK, and we too had 0-1's doing the exact same thing, but also hit married couples in the squadron living on base. By the time they hit our house it was close to midnight and they were sorry...We fed them, but their toll was to help Bullet build trikes, and doll houses:shake:
 
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