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This past Sunday we moved Sarah into her dorm room at Texas A&M. We left the house before the crack of dawn, Sarah, her boyfriend Drew, her mom and me. 1 hour and 45 minutes later we were standing in line to get our key. I parked the big rig in a nearby garage.

Small crisis - we have been assigned a . . . a . . . Handicapped room. Immediately we all sprung into action. Parents - damage control, Drew - empathy, Sarah - alert the roommate (pictured above). After much "look at the bright side" and a few cleansing breaths we began the migration.


Did you ever see the movie "March of the Penguins"? This is what it was like as the parents moved back and forth between the various makeshift moving vans and the dormroom-nest. The biggest difference - about 168 degrees. Boxes and bags, pompoos and flu-fluglers, all winding their way to their new home.

Next, unbeknownst to us we were about to tackle the most diabolical, frustrating, intellectually challenging task we have faced since Christmas eve 19 91 when we tried to assemble the doll house, bicycle and gas grill before dawn. It was - the shower pole. Deceptively simple looking, it was a long shiny Rubix Cube in disguise. After struggling mightily for about 45 min, I called in reinforcements and asked Linda to bend it to her will. 20 minutes later we were standing in the shower speaking of college parties, varnish remover and other possible causes of brain damage. We had yet to assemble the pole. As we exhausted all the possible permutations and faded into fits of turrets-laughter we stumbled across the right combination. It was such a momentous occasion we asked Sarah to snap a picture (also above). We weren't even finshed, we had not yet hung the little baskets, but we had won a battle.

I feel a little shaken now I am going to have to stop typing.