Hanging with my Say Say

This past weekend was parents weekend at WVU. Since there is no longer a kid at home to watch the hounds for weekends such as this I carted Reggie and Lola off to sleep away camp AKA the kennel. Then Steve and I locked up the house and hit the road for Morgantown, WV.

It was a great weekend for a drive and a glorious weekend to see the WVU campus. The trees were at the peak for fall colors and the sky was big and blue with just bits of wispy clouds. The temperature was in the mid 60s during the days and cooler at night. Perfect fall weather - the kind that reminds me why fall is my favorite season.

We picked Say (our family nickname for Sera) up on Friday night at about 7:30 and went to downtown Morgantown for dinner. By the time we got into town, parked the car and gimped along the hilly terrain it was after 8:00 PM and we ran into an interesting problem. Sera was not allowed in any of the bar/restaurants that served alcohol since she is under 21 even though she was with her Mama and her Papa. I was flabbergasted by this! A far cry from Athens, OH, home of Ohio University, where not only can your underage child accompany you to the bar - they can have a drink as long as Mom and Pop buy it! Anyhoo ... we eventually found a place to have dinner.

As we chatted with our youngest daughter I marveled over the transformation that has occurred in the 8 weeks she has been away at school. She seems calmer and more mature although she is still very uncertain of what she wants to do or where she wants to be at this point in her life. I admire her for admitting it.

After dinner we took a driving tour of the downtown campus area in the dark. Eventually we made our way back to our hotel where the three of us watched Get Smart with Anne Hathaway and Steve Carrell. Actually only I watched the entire movie; Sera and her father each slept through parts.

Saturday morning we looked through the Fall Family Weekend booklet put out by the university and decided that there really wasn't much of anything of interest to do. There was not a home football game so that wasn't even an option. Strange I think to have a family weekend without a football game as a central part - again comparing to the other schools where we have visited for parents weekend. Sera was worried that we had driven all the way there to do nothing. Not to worry Steve and I told her - we are good at finding things to do!

We took a driving tour of the downtown campus area - Say Say pointing out places where she and her friends have been looking at potential apartments for next year. They are some interesting looking places - a bit ramshackle and kind of hanging onto the hillsides or looking as if they might fall backwards into the street below. Lots of them have ladders from the top floor windows to either a porch roof below or to sometimes to the ground. Steve thinks they are fire escapes - I was horrified. Some of the ladders are even made of wood. Note to self - definitely something to look into before she signs any kind of lease for nest year. After that we drove up Greek Hill with Sera pointing out the houses she had visited during rush. At this point she has decided not to go forward with the whole sorority think - I have mixed emotions. Anyway - I thanked the Lord I wasn't walking on my bum leg up that hill!

Next we did lunch and then shopping for a few necessities - always an important part of a parents' weekend visit. After shopping, Steve started making noises about going to a bar to watch the Ohio State - Michigan State football game. He dropped Sera and I off near the little downtown area so we could explore (read shop) while he parked the car and found a bar to plant himself in.

Sera and I poked our way in and out of some cute little shops. She found shoes and a scarf at one. I found a WV magnet for my office in another. We read lots of funny cards and petted the owners' cats in yet another. We especially liked the Bead Monster where we were able to make our own jewelry. We each made a bracelet and that was a lot of fun. Eventually we met Steve at BW3 and watched the 2nd half of the OSU game and all of the game afterwards. Sera and I kept ourselves occupied by playing a trivia game against the other people in the bar. After a while even Steve had enough football in a crowded smoky bar (gasp - I had forgotten how awful it was to be inside a place where they allow smoking) and we made our up to the Mountainlair to see what was happening. While we were en route to the Mountainlair we noticed a lot of commotion going on - police cars blocking traffic - lots of people gathered to see what was up. All of a sudden this huge parade of .... get ready for it .... zombies .... starts making their way down the street. There were hundreds of them - dressed in all sorts of attire. They were grunting and leg dragging and mumbling about brains as they made their way en masse down High Street to the Warner Theater to a screening of Night of the Living Dead. We had witnessed the Morgantown Zombie Walk of 2008 and it was pretty cool!

We eventually made it to the Mountainlair where Sera and Steve bowled. I opted out because by that point my lower leg was pretty swollen - somehow I didn't think bowling would be good for it. It was a nice thing to watch - Sera and her dad bowling with each other - joking and laughing and just having fun. I got a little emotional but made a point not to let it show.

We ended up the evening again back at our hotel. Saturday night's movie feature was Knocked Up with Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen. It was OK I guess. A little raunchy and way too much gratuitous swearing for my taste.

Sunday we went on a journey looking for a yellow WVU shirt for Sera to wear to the nationally televised football game on Thursday night. WVU is playing Auburn at home and they are having a "gold rush" which means that the stadium will be filled with people all dressed in gold. It will fun to see. Since the bookstores around campus are all closed on Sundays (wtf???) we had to go on an adventure to find a place that was open that sold WVU game gear. Fortunately we were up for the challenge and not only did Sera get a new shirt but I got a cool WV fleece as well.

Eventually we had to say goodbye to Sera and head home. I really hated to leave her but as I said earlier, she is a calmer, more mature young woman now and she was totally cool with us going. Hugs and kisses and then goodbye.

See you for Thanksgiving baby girl.