re: Seriously, I'm surprised at how positive the tone of her emails lately has been. I guess she is really feeling that she is over a hump having made it half way. She is getting excited for 1C year. After this tri it's back out to sea and when she returns, she will be 1C. Wow! Where has the time gone. We'd better start saving up for graduation weekend costs.
Indeed where has it (the time) gone ... DS just arrived once again on the Left Coast and joined what, if the stars align, will be his own last ship (he's a B split). While it's clear he isn't wild about the fact when he returns to campus in November he is looking at 5 straight trimesters on campus until graduation; it IS clear, he too, is seeing a flicker of light and the end of the tunnel and he is convinced that it is NOT an oncoming train but rather something good.
In some senses it seems like just yesterday we waved to a kid, and that's what he was, as he sauntered into O'Hara Hall to start indoctrination. In other moments, when we discuss what he is doing, why he's doing it and what he wants to do going forward, it seems like eons ago, he clearly no longer thinks like a kid when it comes to any of those things. Nor dare I say do any of his and your DD's classmates. I'm just glad that it's also clear they haven't forgot how to ave some fun from time to time either!
For the Parents of P/C's who frequent this forum, I know it will be hard for some to help their DS/DD keep a positive attitude and persevere in the coming weeks as the coming weeks feature their first encounters with some real challenges - first trimester midterms and finals. I also know that for those DD/DS who will find themselves feeling like they are looking down the barrel of a loaded gun, no matter what you say on this topic, they really won't find much refuge from those feelings until AFTER they've weathered the storm and survived - so these next statement is really for you, their parents even more then them. Here it is: It really all does fly by in what seems like the blink of an eye. For all of us parents the "seminal/defining Kings Point moment/experience" comes at different times and is marked by different specific events and conversations, but in all cases the moment is indeed when you realize this is absolutely not a) the same child you sent off to Indoc, and b) you really have no reason to worry about them anymore no matter what they decide to do or where they are doing it - although being a parent, you'll probably just choose to continue to do so.
As for our children the seminal moment seems to be when they decide that no matter what they are going to finish what they started and then go at the rest of their lives from there....
Sorry for the touchy/Feely moment/tone/ramble it's just one of those sorts of moments occurred yesterday for me...
USMMA = Great Young Men & Women In a Great Place Preparing Themselves To Do Great Things