College visit -an orientation

So we are back from my youngest daughter's college orientation, and placement testing. It was a long two days but a necessary trip.
Seems as the college she has opted to attend insists on these visits by incoming freshmen. I know that she had stress, but all seems to have gone well, and her classes are scheduled, and now we have two months to finish all the necessary paperwork and prep work that we do for our children as they make the leap into adulthood. It does make me feel better that her older sister is working in the small town this large university consumes over the school year.
My youngest will still be a state away in just two months. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this, but I have faith that she will try to make the best of her opportunity. She understands that the next four years will provide her with income potential, and this above all drives her.
I guess I am feeling as though part of my role as her mother is leaving now. I have never been a helicopter parent, chosing instead to allow my girls to make their own decisions, right or wrong, knowing that I have tried my best to instill the basics of being a good human being.
I also know at times I could have been a better parent, a better mom. Hindsight is just that, looking back cannot change how our children view the world.
I know from experience that we make our own way, and hopefully we will be happy with the path we choose. If we aren't I can only hope that they both realize that there are other options.
So in two short months I will be finishing the prep work and giving a hug, and driving five hours away. At this moment, I'm feeling okay, hopefully in two months I'll be feeling the same way.

What happened to manners?

Today I attended my youngest daughter's graduation from high school. It was a morning commencement ceremony as the original date was postponed due to the threat of rain. Turns out I liked it as much as the the evening commencement my oldest daughter had in 2005.
Unfortunately the same thing happened this year as six years ago. I am referring to the families and friends of the graduates in the stands.
When did it become okay for audiences to talk through speeches, or the announcement of names in the graduating class?
When did it become okay to stand up and stretch blocking the view of those behind you?
When did it become okay to cheer and yell so loud and long, complete with airhorns, so that the other families cannot hear their graduates names being called?
I noticed this issue years ago at a talent show at a grade school. This continued through almost all school activities I attended.
Parents, who should know better, for whatever reason feel the need to talk to their neighbors during the entire show or meeting.
Is it any wonder teachers or instructors have a problem with kids sitting quietly in their seats, and listening to the lesson. They are not learning this important skill at home.
There is a time and a place for everything.
Talking through a movie, or a play, or a commencement ceremony is not acceptable behaviour.
Like the shoppers with an earpiece in their ear, talking to whoever is on the other end, totally clueless that the other shoppers around them don't really need to hear about the woes of the speakers private life that they feel obligated to share.
What concerns me the most is the fact that these offenders seem to be clueless...they will never change.
We seem to be living in a society that accepts this, and I am deeply saddened by the fact that there is a whole big group of folks out there who never learned that sometimes you just need to sit and listen. I learned this as a child, as my children did.
How did they miss this important part of growing up?

My front page news

Today my youngest child, my daughter I had eighteen plus years ago came home with her graduation gear. White robe, and mortarboard and all at once it occurred to me that my baby wasn't such a baby anymore but a young woman who was about to embark on the next chapter of her life.

Lately I have found my thoughts going back through the memorable moments of the past 23 and a half years. Good and bad. My oldest daughter is 23 and starting her own new chapter. The fact that she is so happy, makes me happy, and I wish her always the happiness she feels today. I try to restrain from offering unsolicited advice, not always so sucessful doing that but I am trying.

My youngest however is a bird of a different color. Two children who could not be more different. She has gone from stage to stage, sometimes abruptly, sometimes without notice finding her own way. She is straightforward and brutally honest. No grays in these thought processes.
I am as proud of her as I am her older sister.
It's often hard for a parent not to compare their children, but doing so often raises rivalry that is not necessary.

I was an older mom when I had my youngest daughter, and she has had to grow up with the knowledge that some people probably thought I was her grandmother instead of her mom. She dealt with it as well as the few bad habits I have retained for years. She is not happy about them, and is vocal at times, but the spotlight isn't on them constantly, and I thank her for that.
She is smart and talented, and a fierce friend, but a stinging enemy. She is one tough young woman.

I want to tell her as she prepares for college what she might expect, but she would remind me that I did not go to college, and not really basing any of my advice on first hand knowledge.
There are times when I feel that maybe I could have been a better parent, maybe we all have those thoughts. I believe in children finding their own way, making mistakes, and fixing them, and learning to prepare for adulthood. Self sufficient, making their own way, having their own lives, were all part of the parenting plan.
I was honest with them, though wishing at times we could have offered them better.
When we couldn't afford something I said so, no beating around the bush pretending we had more than we had.
No disneyworlds or true vacations.
But my daughter knows the value of a dollar, and knows that college loans are hers to repay unless we win the lottery. This of course doesn't stop her for asking for the occaional overpriced item, but at the same time is no stranger to a sale rack.
So in one week I will dab my eyes, and wonder how the time flew by. Then the prep for college begins..and I will reserve my other tears for August.

Teachers, teachers everywhere and not a class to teach

Here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, school districts are preparing for cuts in state funding at all levels, including the university system.
What this means is that school districts are looking to save money so that the state of education can continue as is.
But the cuts are being taken on the backs of our teachers and our children.
Hundreds of teachers in our immediate area are being furloughed, staff as well, and now in one all assistant varsity coaches have been handed a pink slip.
Classes are being eliminated, as well.
Electives in one school district took a dire hit, teachers in others have agreed to a pay freeze, and as administration the highest paid employees on the totem pole have agreed not to take their raises.
All this due to the deficit our state is facing along with some other states.
Here we have an unusual situation. Pennsylvania happens to the be the land of the greatest gas rush since the California Gold Rush. Drillers of this commodity are coming in droves, and yet are not taxed one cent.

They are destroying our forests, and tainting our water supplies and yet not one cent is being paid in taxes or fees for the trouble.
So who gets the ax to help balance the budget.
Teachers, school districts, and upper education.
Welfare, health benefits for the those who need them the most are being slashed or eliminated.

What is answer, what does our present governor owe this group who financed his campaign.? Why aren't there more answers being given?
So many questions and so few answers.