Parent's Weekend

Tomorrow we leave to visit our daughter for Parent's Weekend at her college. She is a Freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I'm really looking forward to seeing what her college life is like. I also love the town of Boulder. It's the ultimate college town, beautiful mountains in the background, a brick walking street lined with funky shops and great bars and restaurants. I didn't get the chance to take her to school so this will also the first chance for me to see her dorm room and meet her friends.

As much as I love my daughter she drives me crazy. 18 is a tough age. 18 year olds constantly remind you that they are adults and independent. On the other hand they are totally dependent on their parents. Last Sunday I got a call from my daughter. It went something like this:

"Hi Dad"
"Hey what's going on. What did you do this weekend?"
"Well I have a problem"
"What or should I say how much"
"My cell phone broke"
"What happened?"
"It fell in the toilet"
"How did that happen? Why were you talking while you were on the toilet?"
"I wasn't talking to anyone"
"How did it happen?"
"I was texting and it slipped"
"Oh"
"The worst part was I had to fish it out."
"Maybe it will dry out"
"I don't think that will help out. I dropped it in after I finished"
"Finished what?"
"You know, Dad!"
"Oh"

So, I told her I would help her. I told her I wasn't willing to pay a lot of money for a replacement phone. We had just commited to two more years on our contract to get the toilet infested phone. To replace it on Ebay would have been $250.

I remembered that we just replaced a lot of cell phones at work with Treos, and we used the same company at work as at home. On of my work friends had a nice cell phone in good condition that he didn't need any more, so he gave it to me. I took time out of my day to get it activated, pack it, find a charger, and then ship it overnight, so she wouldn't be without a phone. The phone was a flip phone with a camera, color creen, speaker phone and a clock on the front. I thought I did pretty well for her.

When we talked to her the next day I was expecting a big thank you. Instead, she was mad because it was a "three year old model." Since when did phones become a status symbol or fashion statement?

Probably I made a mistake even getting a phone for her. Adults who break or lose their phones replace them themselves. Of course had she tried to replace it herself she would have had a hard time. Only the contract holder can activate a phone. Maybe it would have been a good lesson.

Its amazing what are necessities for college students now. In addition to the out of fashion cell phone she has a laptop. They also have in their room:a flat screen tv (courtesy of roomie's dad), a fridge, a microwave, a dvd player and of course the ipod and ipod speakers. Somehow I think I will be informed this weekend about all of the things she needs. I think she confuses "wants" with "needs" often.