I'm very pleased to report that we survived Parents Weekend. In fact the visit was a smashing success, other than a torrential downpour during the football game, a fourteen-hour journey home involving a missed connecting flight and our younger son's permanent corruption after spending three nights with his brother in his dorm. 

CJ is incredibly happy, reasonably healthy (after recuperating from Swine), and actually managed to get excellent mid-semester grades, without missing a tailgate. 

One minor disappointment: We barely were able to have a conversation with our son because most of our time together involved loud sporting events, crowded restaurants with his friends' families…and watching him nap in our hotel room.  Every night at 9:30 he would politely bid us goodnight and head off to a vibrant social occasion that lasted until 3 am.  And each morning, while waiting for him to wake up, Mr. NP and I attended speeches by the President, a cappella performances, economics lectures and spirited brunches,  commiserating with other parents about how education is wasted on the young.

Later in the week, the parents of the Class of '09 at CJ's high school had a reunion coffee, and the themes seemed to be the same: many undeclared majors, minimal homesickness, phone calls home mostly to ask for something…and how to deal with our college students when they come home for Thanksgiving and expect us to be supportive of their girls-and-boys-gone-crazy good life under our roofs.