Weathering the Storm

[Coconut]

What a great weekend.. Drove down to FL to see my son this weekend, he's in Orlando so it's about 3 hours less to drive there than down to Ft. Lauderdale which was nice (but still a long drive). Saturday we spent most of the day just doing what he does on a daily basis on campus, he showed me around to all of his classes, library, gym, cafeteria, student union, etc.. It was nice to get a glimpse into his new life, he got a roommate while I was there, so it was nice to get to meet him (my son had the dorm to himself but the other guys room flooded so they reassigned him).

He stayed at the hotel with me Sat night, we played board games and checkers in the lobby until midnight or so, then Sunday there was some special Pokémon Go event going on at his school, he really wanted to do it so we walked around campus again catching pokemon.. He played it when he was younger but had stopped, but picked it back up since there are soooo many students that play (there are a lot of special pokemon features around his campus) and he has a good time with it. I have to admit, it was a pretty fun event, I couldn't believe how many people were participating and with everyone doing the same thing, everyone was very open and welcoming, you end up meeting a lot of new people playing it.

anyway, went to Halloween Horror Nights Sunday night, it was a blast. I gotta say, the express passes were very pricey, but I'm very happy I got them. We managed to do all the haunted houses and a few other rides since we never had to wait more than 10 minutes in any line. We followed a couple of people walking into an unmarked opening in the wall and ended up in Diagon Alley, it was such a cool surprise.. neither of us had ever been there or even knew it existed in universal studios (we had been to Hogsmeade in islands of adventure several times). There was something really cool about getting lost in a hidden world that you didn't know was there (which is the basis of the wizarding world), it was a great experience.

I can't tell you all how proud I am of him, his goal right now is to try and get into medical school which I knew, but I wasn't aware of everything he is doing now to help prepare him for that. He is signing up for every workshop he can find, he has talked with panels of Dr.'s to get the inside scoop on what is really important when applying for med school (he said his biggest takeaway was to do what he has passion for, not just to get check marks on an application). He has joined the biology and chemistry club's (his major is biology), he's applied to be part of a research group to research the effects hurricane Maria had on diabetics (such as loss of power and difficulty in keeping insulin refrigerated, finding healthy food to eat, etc.) in Puerto Rico.

I asked about his girlfriend and he told me that before he left for school he was having a hard time in his R (which I knew), that he told her he wasn't in love with her anymore (weeks before he left for school), but they agreed to continue seeing each to see if they can make it work. At first I thought he meant like, seeing each other but others too, and he quickly corrected me and said that he was a one relationship person, that he is committed to her even though he doesn't feel that "spark"... Then he added (which I was impressed with) "I didn't love her when we first started dating, so I'm giving the R time to see if I can be feel in Love with her again". I know she's been up there to visit him a couple of times and he's gone back home a couple of times, so they are still seeing each other every couple of weeks. Regardless of if the R lasts or not, I was pretty impressed with his understanding that losing the "feeling" of love didn't mean that the R should just be ended.

As for me, I've been keeping busy, I do a lot of the same things (camping, fishing, etc.) most of the time, although in new places, I feel like ya'll don't want to keep hearing about the same things over and over, so I don't post much of that. I am not currently "looking" for anyone, so there aren't any stories to tell there, but if someone pops up i'll be sure to mention it. I've only been able to practice on the guitar 3 nights so far (been out of town or out on the town the other nights), but i'm enjoying it and want to focus on one thing at a time to really get a good feel for it before moving to the next (strumming, chords, etc.). It's going to be a slow process but I want to do it right. So far things with my renter are working out well, he gets home around 8:30 and is in his room within an hour and is gone before I get out of bed in the morning.. working out great so far.