October 16, 2011
For the first time in six weeks, I got to see my college-aged daughter, who came home for the weekend. I can't even tell you how excited I was to have her home! She got on a Greyhound in San Diego late Thursday night, switched to Amtrak in the wee hours of the morning, and arrived in Fresno at 6:45 a.m. Unfortunately, I had to be at work bright and early, so I had to leave the homecoming to her dad. My reunion with her would have to wait just a little longer.
Although she didn't sleep much at all on the bus or the train, she powered through and stayed awake so she could come back during the school day on Friday and visit her choir and drama teachers and lots of friends who are still at Buchanan. She showed up at school with coffee in hand, and we got to catch up (and give big huge hugs!) during my prep period before she headed off to make the rounds of the school. During my last class of the day, not only did she come back to visit with several of her friends who are currently in my A.P. Lit. class, but a few of my former students also stopped by to visit with her and say hello to me. These are some of my 'extra daughters,' so getting to see them was icing on the cake.
Bree and one of her sister-friends, Miss Kaitlyn.
As luck would have it, Bree came home on the weekend of our local elementary school carnival. Bree has never missed this carnival since kindergarten, believe it or not, and even though this is my first year without any children at that school, we all found ourselves back there Friday night.
Several of Bree's friends joined her there. This a sweet, loving, beautiful group of college freshman, laughing and having a great time together at the carnival for kids. (Shelby, Marlowe, Bree, Nicole, and Mallory.) I love these girls!
Danielle also met up with a good friend at the carnival--Andrei. These girls both managed to win goldfish to bring home, much to my chagrin. (As of press time, only two of our four have survived. If the remaining two make it through the week, maybe we'll name them.)
Nicholas found his fun (and luck!) at the Cake Walk. He won four times in fairly quick succession, focusing his eyes on various forms of chocolate as his prizes. After years of Bree being the lucky one at the Cake Walk events, I'm so excited that we came home with something besides vanilla cupcakes and shortbread cookies! After we had Nicholas' four baked goods plates safely ensconced in the car, he made another trip back to the Cake Walk. He made it his goal to win another cake for his former robotics coach, who happened also to be there at the carnival, and to win something vanilla for his big sis, who was home visiting from college. Lucky boy managed to do both. What a sweetheart!
Me with my beautiful girls.
When the carnival ended, we found our way to Target, because Target is like the Mothership to both Bree and me. Danielle provided comic relief while I pushed her around in the cart.
Bree, trying to figure out if she can lug a beanbag chair back on the train with her for her dorm.
Because of the carnival, we decided not to go to Family Dinner Night until Saturday lunch. We amended our Family Dinner Night rule, so that whenever Bree comes home, she bumps right into the rotation. Dinner, or lunch, as it turned out, was Bree's choice, then, so naturally she chose Thai Fusion. Afterward we stopped in to Heart Village for dessert. Yum!
Sunday, of course, came too soon. Doug and I took Bree to the train station, and honestly, the only reason I didn't get too emotional was because I know that Family Weekend at the college is coming up very soon. In just two short weeks, I get to visit her!
Hard to see her go, but oh, what a wonderful weekend it was.
Shelby and Bree
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