Some of you have been wondering how Sarah’s first month of college have been going so let me give you a quick update.
She’s taking 14 credit hours a week with one of the courses being on online. Tuesday is her heaviest day with 7 hours of classes; the other classes are scattered throughout the week.
Her most challenging class has been kayaking. I won’t go into a lot her kayaking experiences since she said she may write about them on her own blog but I will say that the first class left her in tears. Today she is heading out to her fourth kayaking class and although the class still makes her nervous, she is doing a good job of persevering at something that is way out of her comfort zone. Steve and I are proud of her for not giving up.
The last few weeks have been a little on the stressful side in another way because the grocery store where she works was getting ready for an annual audit. Sarah works in the pricing department and with over 30,000 items in the store, she had to scan one item in every category. (So if there were a hundred kinds of salad dressings, she had to do a hundred scans to double check that is everything was correct.)
A couple of those weeks, she worked thirty-five hours on top of her classes and homework. (In addition to a weekly rehearsal for a dance/drama performance, youth group participation, teaching a Sunday school class, and working on the media team at church.) Thankfully, her work hours are about to decrease to about 15 hours a week (which is where she wants them to be) which will make things a lot less stressful.
Yesterday, she had a class in the morning and then had to work after lunch. When it was time to pick her up at 5:30, I went a little early because I needed to get a few items for dinner.
As she went diligently about her job, she had no idea her mother was skulking around the store. . .
taking surreptitious pictures of her.
When she finally saw me she smiled and asked if I was looking for anything in particular that she could help me find. I said, “Well, I’m looking for a lovely, sweet daughter.” Sarah said she’d let me know if she happened to see one.
She is still working toward getting her driver’s license. She’s made a lot of progress over the past few months but she’s still not quite at the point where she feels confident enough to drive on her own. Between Steve and me, we spent about 25 hours in the past month getting her to and from classes and work; she usually does the driving on those trips in order to get in all the practice she can.
You can believe it will be a great day of celebration in the Smith house when she passes that driving test and gets her very own license. In the meantime, I am treasuring the extra time I get to spend with her because she will fly away to complete independence all too soon and then I will just have to schlep my own self forlornly around to all my various appointments without the company of this fabulous daughter of mine.
Treasuring the days . . .and the daughter.
I’m 26 and don’t know how to drive. I’ve been through three sessions of drivers ed and it won’t take. Don’t let anyone make her feel bad about not driving. Self driving cars will be here by 2016.
AC,
It’s still hard for me to comprehend the whole idea of self driving cars! I’m sure seeing my first one will be quite the memorable experience! 🙂
That’s our girl!
Steve,
No one quite like her.
Whew! That’s been a very heavy schedule. I am so glad to hear that the work hours are soon to decrease. And I love the word ‘skulk’ as much as I love to skulk. And that last picture of Sarah is terrific!
Lesley,
Yes, it is a heavy schedule; I’m glad it’s about to change. It wouldn’t have been so stressful to have worked that many hours after she had gotten used to college but to start college and then work almost full time was a bit much. We’re proud of her for getting through it.
Glad you like the word skulk AND that you like to skulk. It’s a fun word.
So glad her schedule is about to calm down. Drivers licenses are funny things. When I was a kid I couldn’t wait to get my license & now the kids aren’t that interested. A friend of mine had to practically drag her daughter to her test. She was selling the car that afternoon & needed her to get her license.
Margie,
Yes, it is funny how much different kids vary in their quest to get a license. Some of them are at the DMV the instant they turn 16 and the others (like Sarah and your friend’s daughter) are a little more casual about it.
Since I truly believe that 16 is too young for a kid to get a license, I’m perfectly fine with the waiting. 🙂
that’s a lot of activities and work for the college gal!
Mrs. Pam,
Yes, it is! Steve and I made sure to pitch in a little on her household chores so at least she would have a bit of a break there!
I have a couple of 7 year olds that you can borrow if you feel the need for some children around! 🙂
Tiffany,
Um. I think you’ve done a good job with them up to this point; you’d probably better hang on to them. 🙂
Tell Sarah to enjoy and not let the stress get her down. Hope she will find time to relax somewhere in that schedule of hers.
Ann,
This coming week should be MUCH less stressful. Hooray for that!