Sophomore --Hopefully No Slump

Getting D2 back to college for the Fall semester: mission accomplished.

Fortunately, this time ancient Mom laid low, and we were able to concentrate on this exquisite task. We left early Tuesday am, and headed up the Turnpike...

North of Orlando, I spied a familiar vehicle: a minivan with a UM plate. Sure enough, it was Dr. Eric's kids Jenn and Josh, also headed up to UF. We caravanned through monsoon-like rains near Ocala, and D2 took a photo of the van and texted it to Dr. Eric.

We arrived at the sorority house, and I began my job of schlepping stuff up to D2's room. We met her roommate Ali's mom, a nice lady named Sharon, from LI. She grew up in Merrick, 2 towns away from my town. I joked with Ali that I HAD met her Mom before, drunk at concerts at the Jones Beach Theatre. No, Sharon answered, it would have had to have been drunk at Studio 54 --she hung in the City in those days. I liked her right away.

After I finished with the stuff we brought, D2 and I went to a rented storage unit and retrieved even MORE stuff. D2 cleaned out the space, which she had shared with other friends, and we stuffed several stuffed giraffes into the SUV. Giraffes are the sorority symbol...

Finally. I was done with the heavy schlepping. Not so fast, D2 answered --there were another 4 major duffles and a box of shoes across the street, in the "Creamsicle," the house she spent the summer. Creamsicle is so named for its color, of course...

D1 is known around my house as the clothes horse. It turns out that D2 probably has twice as many clothes. Wifey, who spent hours unpacking them, proclaimed that she was "astounded." D2 had no car last year, so she also accumulated an impressive amount of toiletries when she went to a CVS. She now has a full 2 dressers full of shampoos, makeup, deodorant, etc... She can easily supplement her scholarship payments by selling stuff out of her room.

At 7 pm, the house closed to all civilians, like Wifey and me. The sorority sisters had to begin lighting their cauldrons and starting their secret rituals, as the vaunted recruitment of new members was beginning. This is a very big deal at huge state universities like Florida, where sororities and fraternities are a major factor. Wifey and I were just relieved to be done with the heavy work...

The three of us went to Downtown Gainesville, to Boca Fiesta, for delicious Mexican. I drank a celebratory ice cold Dos Equis, and we toasted D2 for a good year in college.

Wifey and I looked back to our college moves. I had a pretty large stereo, and one suitcase of clothes. Wifey and her friend Rosie moved to FSU (back then, it was still an all women's college -HA) from Miami in a tiny VW Beetle. Wifey said she had maybe 15 articles of clothing. I had probably 3 pairs of pants and 3 pairs of shorts. Come to think of it, that's STILL my wardrobe...

Wednesday am, we picked up D2 and headed to Ivy, one of our breakfast places. They weren't open yet, so went to a Cuban place. Really. Actual Cubans, in Gainesville! Pretty young waitresses, and a middle aged woman speaking Spanish loud, to be heard over the Cuban coffee machine. It was just like being home...

We dropped D2 off at the house (after a quick check of her car to make note when an oil change would be needed), and took photos in front of the place. We hugged. D2 thanked us profusely, for being the best parents in the world.

It's funny: she and I always got along, but she and Wifey had a very rough patch from middle school through high school. Wifey used to weep to me how much D2 "loathed her." I knew it would pass, and it has. It just took a bit of maturing (by both D2 and Wifey)...

We drove away, proud and wistful. Wifey recalled dropping D2 off at Leewood Elementary, back in 1997, with her enormous back pack. She was so feisty and adorable. Who knew that, 13 school years later, she would finish number 22 in her class of over 800, and win a full scholarship to several universities?

And more importantly, she would end up so happy...Wifey noted that as people passed outside her sorority house room, they happily exclaimed "D2's back!" And so she is...

So here's to a terrific '11-'12 school year. May the Gator football team lose many games, but my little Gator soar...