Mizzou Summer Welcome

Summer Welcome: a series of two-day orientation sessions for incoming University of Missouri freshman and their parents.  Due to Sue's busy job-related schedule, heavy with Vacation Bible School and multiple 1-week day camps that she is in charge of, the penultimate Summer Welcomed worked best for us, July 6 & 7.

We departed directly from McCord's (where we celebrated Independence Day) in central East Texas and drove 11 hours to Columbia, MO.  Despite my philosophical reservations, rooted deep in my Scots ancestry, to paying tolls to travel on a road, I opted to drive through Oklahoma on the Indian Nations Toll Road to save time.  I console myself this very day with the proverb "time is money", somewhat assuaging my regret at paying for what should be a taxpayer funded birthright.  Yet, I should feel even worst, as I am now a wanted man by the Okies.  As I came upon the tollbooth, I accidentally go into the lane reserved for "Exact Change (Coins) Only".  I had exact change for the $1.75 toll, but only three quarters and a single dollar bill.  With a car waiting impatiently behind me, I threw the $0.75 worth of coins into the toll basket and sped off holding my non-coin dollar bill with sirens blaring and tollbooth lights flashing in my rearview mirror.  I told Sue and Grant to duck down to the floor boards in case any shots are fired in our direction.  We beat it to the Arkansas stateline, now a wanted scofflaw wandering the midwest in fear that maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow - but someday I'll regret not paying the full dollar to the Okies for the rest of my life.

We arrived at campus in the evening, where we had dorm rooms reserved for two nights.  Grant was assigned to the men's wing and on a floor with fellow Journalism majors.  His Summer Welcome roommate was from Chicago, interested in broadcast journalism - but, according to Grant, "did not say much" - I do believe this is an inauspicious sign for the young man.  We parents had a separate dorm with a two-bed suite.

We met Grant at breakfast the next morning, where his mother asked him how he slept?  Well, he did not sleep much, was involved in roller chair races down the hallway and spent time talking with others and watching ESPN.  I am hoping this first night in the dorms is not so inauspicious as it may seem.  We three joined guided campus tour and at then end of our tour, Grant was separated from us for the rest of the day.  This suited Grant just fine, as we are so full of questions that should not even be asked [his opinion] or which are so elementary they do not deserve an answer [his opinion].

The beginning of second day Grant took a Spanish placement test and then met with both an academic and peer advisor and got his classes chosen.  Being the second-to-last Summer Welcome session, many of his class options were already limited  But now with his freshly minted UofM ID Card (acts as ID/Credit Card/Dorm Key) he was officially enrolled.  The last piece of business is the new rite of passage; purchasing a laptop computer and getting it setup to sync with the campus network by IT workers in the bookstore.

Breakfast Day 2 at Rollins Campus Cafeteria

By 1 PM we were headed back to Dallas.  Mom suggested that since it is already after noon, maybe we should get a motel rather than drive the 670 miles back home in one fell swoop.  I stifled the urge to laugh at my womenfolk's weeniness, knowing that I would regret it - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but for the rest of my life.  But really, do you want to check into a motel in Podunck, Oklahoma at 10 PM or drive for another 2 1/2 hours to get home?  Of course we pull into the garage at 12:30 and everyone stays up until almost 3 AM telling Inga about all that we have seen and done. [Except the part about her Dad being a wanted man in at least one state that she does not even know about].

In the words of a cherished, but inscrutable Chinese pronouncement; It has all been one "huge cracker flower that you may never see! - The Happy Panda