Day 1332: Editing and baking

Early this morning, I finally plunged into the Quest video.  Cool temps and rain kept me from swimming, so it was the perfect day to tackle video editing.  It's fortunate the day turned coolish because my overworked body needs a rest. There's only about an hour of footage from the main camera.  Vince forgot to turn it off at the top of Dibble Hill and instead recorded an hour inside the camera bag.

The Go-pro footage is delightful and adds such dimension and variety.  Most exciting are new perspectives on traveling down Canadaway Creek, splashing in the pond and the dowel rods game on Friday night.  Charlie's leap into the pond is really funny and the camera kept recording underwater sounds for a long time.  I couldn't hear any voices, but I could hear sloshing when someone passed close by in their search for the lost camera.

When I tired of editing, we decided to make a peach pie.  Yesterday was Steve's birthday and all I made for him was homemade pizza.  Steve peeled and sliced peaches while I fashioned homemade crust.  I'm out of practice, so I had to follow instructions.  The pie was fabulous!

Over the weekend, college students began moving into their dorms and apartments all over town.  On Saturday, we walked through campus, which was packed with cars and people,  and witnessed the rituals.  Sad-eyed parents hauled baskets and boxes of supplies and clothes from trunks to rooms.  Eager students huddled in clusters with friends.

We reminisced about those days many years ago.  They are quite a blur now.  It's been twenty years since we dropped Justin off at UB for the first time.  He lived in a tiny room in an ancient tower on the Main Street Campus.  He and his best friend from high school had decided to room together.  We warned them that living together could be a real strain on friendships, but they were adamant.  Six weeks into the semester, they had a big fight and that ended their friendship.  Justin wound up rooming with a guy he met in line during registration and they have been close friends ever since.

His birthday was just a week into the term on Sept. 5.  To celebrate,  we took him presents and a cake. We ate it with him in the parking lot.  He didn't come home till Thanksgiving and we knew then that things would never be the same for our family.

Leaving Evan at Oberlin in 1997 was equally traumatic, although it was much harder to drop him at the airport in 1999 when he spent the year studying in Munich.

No doubt many parents of new freshmen are feeling the same sense of loss, mixed with pride, anxiety and a bit of fear.  I'm sure there are plenty of others, however, who are rejoicing!