Wait! Was this event titled Parent Orientation or Parent DISorientation?!

Finally!   Finally I am tucked away in my little hotel room after a very long day.  A day made even longer by the fact that I got less than three hours of snoozing last night*.  That's right - snoozing.  I didn't even really SLEEP during those three hours.  It's more like I drifted in and out of a light snooze.  With crazy random dreams that included someone stealing my wedding rings, The Bloggess, Pearl and other randomness.  It was not fun; I DESPISE not being able to sleep; especially considering I usually do not have a problem with dropping off at all.

So the lack of sleep, coupled with the fact that I needed to get up (preferably) at 5:30 am but certainly no later than 6:00 am (which is when I was actually able to crawl out of bed) in order to rouse Man-Child and be out the door by 7:00 am in order to drive up into the mountains for Student/Parent Orientation at the college of his choice means that this has been a VERY long day indeed (especially considering it has just now struck 9:30 pm).

Wow.  The above sentence just MIGHT be the longest sentence in the history of the world.  Whatever.  I don't care; I'm too tired to worry about fixing it just now.

Somehow we made it.  Despite the fact that somehow I got us completely turned around (IN OUR OWN HOMETOWN!) and had us headed in the wrong direction only 15 minutes into the trip; the driving rain and the pea-soup fog that we encountered once we started gaining altitude.

Needless to say, the whole "getting turned around" part had Man-Child pretty exasperated from the get-go. But in my defense, I WAS pretty sleep and caffeine deprived at the time.

But we are here - in this quaint, little mountain town.

One of the many views of the surrounding mountains on campus.**

Where they pretty much kidnapped wrenched directed him out of the car on the side of the road in a dark alley in a parking lot next door to the dorm he will be staying in tonight and kept us separated us for basically the whole day sent us to our separate orientations.  Considering I don't "do" strangers well I was pretty uncomfortable I did okay.

A LOT of information was covered in our 8 hour day.  Of course, being the uber-prepared mom, I brought my notepad, etc.  I was READY.

And then we sat down and I couldn't find my pen which may have caused a small panic attack.  Until I remembered my phone.  Luckily, I was able to tippity-tap some key information into the memo pad for the majority of the day - until my pen finally emerged from the bottom of my purse as I was rooting around for some happy pills gum sometime in the late afternoon.

When they finally freed us for lunch I figured I'd get to catch up with Man-Child and compare notes.  No such luck.  As we were preparing to head out the speaker told us where to go for lunch and then, as an aside, informed us that our children would be eating elsewhere.

After a lonely (and, quite frankly, yukky) lunch, I headed off to the afternoon sessions.  Let me tell you, this particular campus is MUCH bigger than I remembered.  And, after trekking across the campus; which includes a lot of stairs and hills, I have determined two things.

One:  Man-Child is going to leave this place with an EXCELLENT cardiovascular system and legs

and Two:  I am terribly out of shape.

But on the plus side?  I WAS smart enough to wear semi-sensible, but cute, shoes so my feet didn't suffer!

Not the best pix, I know.  But what can I say?  This must be the darkest hotel room in the history of hotels.

The afternoon sessions had to be both the most informative and scariest sessions of all.  In one of these sessions, they had a panel of students and parents of current students who answered any and all questions about coming to school here.  The questions ranged from the meal plan to healthcare to sex to drinking to drugs.   And back again.  The answers were concise and informative.  And for the most part, pretty honest.

And basically brought home the fact that yes, it is time to let him go.  I raised him to the best of my ability.  Once I set him loose here, I will have very limited control and will have to trust that he will do the right thing. And, for the most part, I believe he will.

That is not to say that I am not completely naive.  I know that he will do things and try things that I may not approve of but I think for the most part he is a pretty responsible person.  I know that he will learn and grow from his mistakes just as he did when he was small.

We were finally able to catch up for dinner.  Which, believe it or not, was basically the EXACT same thing we had for dinner last night at home; pulled pork barbecue.  Although, I must say it was MUCH tastier than my lunch - Hubby's version was FAR superior to what they provided.

Anyway, I tried to compare notes with him then; but he was too preoccupied with his next session.  Although, I was done for the day after dinner he still has a few sessions to attend (which don't wrap up until 10:45 pm!  He's gonna be one tired guy tonight!).

I find myself in a rather sweet hotel - even if it is a chain.  It seems to have been very recently built and is very clean and safe.  Although the room is small (it would be MORE than crowded if there were one more person in here) and VERY dark (have they heard of 60 - and higher - watt light bulbs?  Even with all the lights on I can barely see) the bed is extremely comfortable.  As are the pillows.  Which is amazing, as I usually find hotel pillows to be on the limp side.  And being a firmer pillow lover I am usually very disappointed.

View from the front of the hotel

View from the back of the hotel

I must admit, when I realized that Hubby wouldn't be joining us for this adventure, I was a bit apprehensive. What with the whole "not dealing with strangers well" issue and the fact that I would be spending the night alone in a hotel room.  To be honest, I've never really stayed in a hotel alone before.  Usually, I'm with the family, Hubby, Man-Child or a girlfriend.

But now that I'm tucked away in this quiet little, albeit DARK, room with no distractions I am in heaven.  I could get used to this actually.

At any rate, as stated before, this has been one LONG day.  And tomorrow promises to be equally as long. This is the first chance I've had to log on all day and rather than follow my usual custom of reading your blogs first, I had to take the liberty to get this all written.  Whether or not I will have time to go read what you wrote before I crash and burn is up in the air; but rest assured eventually I'll get caught up again.

*Please ignore any and all typos or confusion; I am EXHAUSTED people.


**Please ignore the bad quality/lighting issues in all the photos.  Remember, I am not a photographer or a photographer-wannabe.  Plus? I'm EXHAUSTED people.