Kittens and Firstborn Visits

A whirlwind of a week, trying to fit what I do in 7 days into 5 because Katie and I planned to take a college road trip. At the beginning of the week we saw the arrival of 2 adorable kittens to the house. Only one is staying, the other is going to Katie's sister who will pick it up in a few days. The humans in the house love these cute kittens, the resident animals are furious, the two existing cats who do not normally talk to each other stand together in solidarity at their disgust of more felines in the house - they are such divas. Biggles, who will a heavy sigh could blow these kittens of course runs for the hills as soon as they approach him - total wuss! But they are very sweet and Katies cat (called Todd) seems docile and very cuddly, very good for a girl that needs something to hang onto.

Work was its usual maniacal pace but I managed to get most of what I wanted to achieve by Thursday afternoon. Thursday evening Katie and I set off for Connecticut, after sleeping well in a local hotel we visited a University that offers the Equine Studies program Katie would like to do. To say it was total disaster was understatement, they were surprised to see us (even though I set up the visit over a month ago) the buildings were tired and run down and they just did not have their act together - we did not stay long.

So, we hopped in the car and did what we both really wanted to do anyways, go to Durham, NH to see Joe. What a sight for sore eyes he was. Tall and handsome, I swear he has grown 6 inches and lost 10 pounds, all this outdoor life must suit him. How good it was to hug him and kiss him and just be around him for a few hours. It is very obvious he is settled and happy, everywhere we went he was saying hi to people and introducing us. First order of business was a haircut as I am not into the shaggy dog look too much and then we did some essential student shopping, great dinner and then rather late on a Friday night for me, Joe dragged us down to the Student Union to see a concert his friends were playing in, Asian Hip Hop meets Acoustic Rock...hmmmmm only in college, it was actually good. What I was not expecting was how hard it would be to say goodbye to him, I only thought that happened the first time you drop your kid off at school. That sense of loss and missing him returned and I think took us both by surprise, but it is tempered by the fact that I know he is very very happy and I will see him in 6 weeks for Thanksgiving.

Then Saturday, it was off to Vermont to see another equine school. The drive to Vermont in October was worth the price in admission all by itself. To say the ride was spectacular would not be doing it justice. And smack bang in the middle of all this glory is Vermont Tech, a smallish school in beautiful surroundings. We loved the school, loved the equine program and all that college life has to offer so that definitely will be high on our list to apply to.

A longish 6 hour drive home and now it is Sunday and I am facing a wonderful day of laundry, groceries, watching the Eagles and the Phillies play simultaneously ( whose idea was that to schedule them at the same time) oh and writing that paper that is due by midnight that not only have I not started I have not even thought about it - I had better get on with it!