Two months later but to be fair, I did a voice memo of all my thoughts – I think it was 40m of unstructured thoughts into Voice Memo and I had AI turn it into blatherings…
Sigh. Here we are, two months later and G is coming home for the 2nd time. Broke up another time with K, but got back together. Where will we be now…?
August…
Driving away in traffic on the I-5 going home was a slog. I did a few different things… No music. Music and crying. Voice memo of notes (yes, it was 40 minutes… and probably saved me typing time rather than editing time), and ugh, I am feeling literally every emotion all at once. I’m worried, I’m excited, I’m happy, and I’m so nervous. I know Griffin is going to do great, but he’s just completely exhausted and overwhelmed. His room situation is a lot. He ended up with three roommates who are total bros, always talking about sports, cars, frats, and chasing girls, and Griffin likes them, but he doesn’t actually want to hang out with them. He needs to find his own people, and he says it’s just stressful walking around trying to figure out where he fits in. Plus, he is not making the best choices right now because he’s so tired. He decided running back and forth to the gym before Convocation was a great idea, and he refuses to take time to just sit down and unpack his room properly. He’s just taking what he needs and moving on, which is totally who he is, but it drives me crazy.
(He did unpack properly and has washed his sheets at least twice. Wow!)
Wednesday Drop-off Chaos and Star Wars Connections
Looking back at the actual drop-off, Wednesday morning started in total chaos. I had a 5 AM work meeting, hopped off at 6 to pack the car, and we somehow got on the road by 6:30. Griffin was being so cute trying to pick out a good outfit and stressing over whether his Star Wars shirt was okay to wear. I told him to wear it, and the funny thing is, two days later, I walked in and saw one of his roommates already had two Star Wars picture frames up. It worked out, and at least he has Star Wars fans here even if they are total bros! The drive down was so smooth, we stopped at Starbucks, and arriving at Zura Hall at 8 AM was a breeze with no line. Compared to dropping Sam off two years ago when we waited forever for elevators, this time there was practically no wait. We met his roommate Asher and his mom in the parking lot on our 2nd trip, loaded our stuff in, and hauled everything up.
Assembly Disasters and Missing Keys
Once we got into the dorm, we made up Griffin’s bed, and then Justin arrived, and we moved into an air-conditioned study room to build this desk hutch we brought. Griffin and I had put together three or four pieces, but when Justin walked in, he took one look at it and realized we had put both main pieces on completely backward. That is just how I operate at 46 years old, I do everything the wrong way first and figure it out. We told Griffin to go hang out with his roommates, and literally five minutes later he walked out in a herd with four other guys and vanished down the elevator. In the middle of all this, we realized Griffin had already misplaced his key within two hours of being there. We put the hutch in his room, talked to his roommate Alec for a minute, and then ran into the group of boys returning from Trader Joe’s with Asher, who is super rich, drives a BMW convertible, and apparently has ulcerative colitis, so he gets a special parking permit just like Sam had.
Weird how life works?
La Jolla Dinners and Sibling Drama
After we left the boys, Justin and I went to Home Depot for zip ties, grabbed lunch at Urban Plates, checked into our hotel, and sat by the pool for a drink. Sam had wanted to do dinner both nights, which shocked me, so we changed our plans to spend time with her. Poor Sam was having a rough week, super stressed out and crying two days in a row over sorority recruitment drama, plus she was on her period. We went to go pick her up, tried to promise that I would charge her Tesla for her tomorrow if she would drive us back because we wanted to drink, and that was weird.. but we figured it out and went to Marisi in La Jolla. The traffic was insane and after I dropped them off, I had to squeeze my car into this impossible parking spot three levels down like I was parking in Monaco, but the food was amazing. I got an espresso martini, prosciutto and melon, and branzino, which I am totally addicted to. Sam was super eager to go home and didn’t want to take an Uber, so we skipped dessert and called it a night.
CEO Presentations and Word Vomit at Rubio’s
The next morning, I worked out early, had a yummy breakfast outside with Justin before he left to go back home, and then had to hop on a sudden meeting with our CEO and executive team to present Kaizen details for my boss – since my boss suddenly realized he would be on a plane. Sigh. I was so nervous, but I nailed it! Then I went to get Sam’s car charged, got it washed and vacuumed for her, and picked up Griffin at noon. He was starving, so we went to Rubio’s and Target to get toilet tree stuff he forgot. The second he got in my car, I got a non-stop word vomit of everything that happened in the last 24 hours. He had been wandering around floor 7 with 25 other guys going room to room, memorizing names, going to parties, and learning all this new college slang. He was also stressing because Asher is kind of ruling the roost and telling everyone what to do. Or maybe he’s just telling G? haha. G was entertained or weirded out because he went with him in his convertible to his house in La Jolla to grab his surfboard and computer monitors.
Pro-Tips at Washy (Huxyacac) Dorm with Kaylie
Kaylie was moving in at 1 PM, so after Target, Griffin and I went to help her at the dorm. Her situation was a bit chaotic because her family left early, so Griffin and I helped bring up her heavy bags. I had bought her about $150 worth of stuff like a three-drawer cart, a makeup mirror, extension cords, and a mirror. Her roommates and their parents were in there trying to make the beds on the top bunks, so I gave them my ultimate drop-off wisdom: take the mattress off the frame, make it on the floor, and put it back. The dad said it was the best advice ever! I put Griffin to work setting up her mirror and plugs, and then I dragged him away so Kaylie could actually bond with her roommates, even though she looked super nervous about it.
I think the parents were SO confused at who I was. THEY were super nice, unlike some of G’s roommates parents… they wanted to exchange numbers since “we were all a family” but I explained again that I was the boyfriend’s Mom. haha, oh well.
I didn’t want their numbers, no thanks. Ha.
Lanyards, Lost Items, and Solved Mysteries
Right after that, Griffin realized he had lost his dorm key AGAIN, and the front desk told us a replacement was $144. We walked to the bookstore to buy him a lanyard and a little pouch so he wouldn’t keep losing his key and his AirPods, which he has lost FOUR times in two years. I made him pay for the AirPods himself at Target because he needs to learn! We went back to his room, and while he was waiting for his roommates to come back so he could get in, he ran into two guys he met during his 25-boy hallway tour and asked to hang out with them. Thirty minutes later, he texted me that he found his roommates and also found his key, which was a huge relief.
Spoiler alert – G lost his key the day after and never found it again…
I texted J to bring my old AirTags that I got as a gift once and never opened!
Unscheduled Magic in Little Italy
That night, I took myself out to Born & Raised in Little Italy for dinner. I was sitting at the bar reading my book and enjoying an espresso martini and filet when the two women next to me started chatting with me. They were going to the theater for a birthday, and we had the best time talking. When they left, the waitress brought over my bill, but inside was a card saying my entire dinner had been paid for. The card said it was a random act of kindness in honor of Bella Bates, who was born on September 15, 2003, making her literally my son’s age. I got so emotional with tears in my eyes, thinking about Griffin starting this new chapter of his life.
After dinner, I grabbed gelato, stopped by a wine bar, and ended up at the hotel’s Monkey Bar chatting with an AI strategist named Stacy and other SDSU parents.
We friended each other on LinkedIn and I completely forgot about her at this point… Oh well.
Lobby Drama, Baseball Games, and Convocation Bookends
The next day, I brought Kaylie a shoe bin and her mirror, and she came down with her two roommates, who are super cute homebodies she totally vibed with. Then I went to meet my mom and Greg at the Marriott Marquis. Right as I walked into the lobby, this guy who was clearly having a mental health break started screaming, banging on the desk, and breaking a keyboard. I was starting to have a mini panic attack kneeling by my suitcase, and Greg kept wandering right into the middle of it like a bumbling fool! I was yelling at him to get back, and this woman next to me asked if I could give that same speech to her husband, who was currently holding the guy down until the police came. It was total drama, but we survived and went to lunch in the Gaslamp at Union, hung by the pool, when Justin got back into town and joined us, and got dinner at Water Grill before heading to the Padres game at Petco Park.
I’m still mad at Gregg for being ridiculous.
Saturday morning was Convocation, which was the sweetest bookend to Griffin’s high school graduation. Griffin was 15 minutes late because he decided to work out first, but we got our tickets and made it in with Kaylie. The student body president gave a speech with the slogan “Be silly, don’t take yourself too seriously, and be kind”, which I loved. Hearing all the colleges welcome the new students was so inspirational.
Afterwards, we saw Sam briefly for a picture in her Boss Babe Sorority element, Justin said his goodbyes to head home because his knee was killing him, and I took Griffin and Kaylie out to a great retro 24-hour diner called Rudford’s for lunch.
Having lunch with them was SO fun. I’m so happy I was relaxed and flexible and sent Justin home – and could just chill with them. G loved the diner and wanted to go back in the future.
Now I’m on the highway, processing the whole wild weekend, missing my kids, and hoping Griffin finds his rhythm!
Two months later… I think he’s getting there.
Sigh.
