songbird's crazy world

(cross posted at Midcentury Modern Moms ) So I was chatting with Jen, and she mentioned that she's planning to come home for Columbus Day weekend.  that's pretty much what I expected; most students at her school leave town for Columbus Day. So I asked Becca when she plans to come home, and the response was "I don' tknow, I like it her." And it occurred to me that my duaghter is living on the island of Manhattan, an island I visit twice daily during my commute to and from work. So I asked her out to dinner. Now, until recently "going out to dinner with Becca" usually involved phrases like "Mom, can we go to Applebee's?"  But things are different now.  Becca is a college student and lives in an apartment on the Upper West Side.  it didn't feel like taking my daughter out for a bite to eat, it felt like making plans with a freind as we discussed which night was good and where we wanted to eat.    We wound up at Cafe Fiorello ...

(cross posted at Midcentury Modern Moms )  It's going to be a weird holiday. As a divorced parent I am used to split holidays,  my children periodically absent from my family table. But this is different.   This isn't about custody and visitation and all that goes with it. First, let's talk about Becca. She's living in a dorm now, and she's a freshman, so she feels she can't miss class.  She'll be home for Rosh HaShanah dinner -- she can either come home by train, and she can catch a ride back to the dorm with my sister who lives in Queens.    So she won't be sleeping in her own bed, she'll be leaving at the end of the evening.  I can live with that, I suppose. But Jen....well, in previous years she'd come home for the holiday, make arrangements with her professors to make up the work she'd miss in order to celebrate the holiday. But today is the very first day of classes at her school.  "Mom, I can't miss the fi...