what a day yesterday. i stepped out of my life for a minute and into someone else’s world. it was a fun day, but in the end i’m happy to be back in my world where i belong. here’s what went down.
6:30am – wake up. head to church for worship practice before the first service. the sets in both services seemed to go really well today. got to play around a little on garageband during the first service.
11:30am – leave church right after worship in the second service and head home. jordan has started packing.
1pm – we have everything packed up and ready to go so begin the 20-minute drive to jordan’s new home: Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.
2:15pm – we waited in a bunch of lines, confirmed his registration, got his schedule, and headed for his dorm. i notice that there are lots of fans in windows. no Air Conditioning? Ouch. Isnt that against the law or something? The lady in the dorm at first appears to want to bite our heads off, but warms up quickly. Apparently jordan has been moved. off campus. to a hosipital.
2:45pm – after heading through lancaster to the wrong hospital (my mistake), we finally get to the old Community Hospital. It’s about 5 blocks from the school (5 really big blokcs). There’s a shuttle every 5-10 minutes, but Jordan has a car so its no big deal. We head up to the third floor. Jordan is in room 361 (in case you want to send flowers or get well cards). The hospital (or Branch Campus as they call it now), isnt that bad. I mean, it is a hospital, they don’t even try to hide it, but it has Air Conditioning and you have a bathroom in your own room, which is a luxury most college kids dont have. No there are no hospital beds or TVs on the wall. Yes there are stil pink walls, and funky receptacles on the walls labeled “oxygen” and “call button”. It’s been a while since the building was actually used as a hospital (though that was where Erica and I stayed in August 1999 when she had her appendix out), and there are lots of hallways that are gated off, including the radiology wing. all in all jordan is happy to be at the Branch campus instead of in Herrington Hall, and i dont blame him.
3:00pm – no time to unpack as we have to get back for an orientation meeting at 3pm. we did get a chance to meet his roommate in the room. I felt bad for Scott because he thought he was geting a double all to himself. But he was really cool and he seems to be a nice kid. He’s from Punxatawney (4 hours away, and home of the infamous groundhog), he wrestles, hunts, packs a dip, has a girlfriend named stephanie back at home, and was at Stevens all summer so he can show Jordan around.
3:30pm – this orientation sucks. i leave jordan to run to walmart. havent eaten lunch yet so i grab some snacks and water for jordan’s room.
4:30pm – back at orientation. apparently a missed an almost fight between some football players and a latino kid who thought one of them used a slur. Welcome to Thaddeus Stevens! haha.
5:00pm – back at the hospital dorm. Scott helps us move in stuff, which is huge because there are no carts to be found and jordan has alot of stuff. the trek from the car to his room is no picnic. after 5 trips we find a cart and finish off. I help jordan set up his room, computer, and whatnot while he unpacks clothes.
7:30pm -jordan and i make a walmart run for a few cables he needs. we hit up taco bell on the way home, which proves to be a costly mistake. i felt like crap all night after that. i guess you are what you eat.
8:45pm – the TV and computer are set up. my work here is done. i say good night and head home to my fam. I think Jordan’s gonna do real well here. Its nice having him only 20 minutes away. he’ll probably stop over to hang out tomorrow ngiht for a bit. his class schedule is nice 1 morning class from 10am-11am and then computer networking labs from 1230-4:30pm every day. he’ll be able to work some evenings, and sleep in a bit, so it’s all good.
The whole thing was weird for me because i had two different dynamics going on. I was part student – feeling as if it was me moving into the dorm and getting a class schedule, and part parent – feeling like i was moving my son into college. it was a taste of the past and a taste of the future i guess.
but in the end, i was happy to come home to the present. My amazing best friend Erica and my kiddos.
In fact, today happens to mark the 7-year anniversary of when i married my best friend. So happy Anniversary sweetheart. We have a babysitter for tonight, so sushi and a movie it is!
may jordan thrive in his new environment, and may my marriage thrive like never before…what a journey life can be.
bryan