Nope-not what you think!! This is not a discussion of internal plumbing in the anatomical sense or plumbing in the sense of piping fresh water in and yucky water out. This plumbing refers to DJ's interest in plumbing the depths of the ocean via SCUBA DIVING!!! (At least initially.)
She's been at her college now for a few weeks. She phoned me for a quick chat tonight prior to her physics society meeting…what exactly does one do at a physics society meeting? I think of raised pinky fingers sipping tea from fine English bone china when I hear the word "society."
And yet, I also picture telescopes and those things you buy in Spencers with five metal balls suspended from fishing wire (known as "Newton's Cradle" if we want to be accurate; a highly desired quality in science, or so I understand) lined up next to each other so that you pull one to the side and watch the kinetic energy travel to the ball on the opposite end, only to see the pattern repeat; the two images just don't mesh.
I have no idea what goes on at said physics society meetings, but it's close to 3 in the morning, here in the eastern USA, my brain is foggy and I digress….
Back to scuba diving. This is an essential skill for those who want to be astronauts as it is a means of mimicking the weightlessness that one will experience in space. Now, she will not actually be plumbing the depths of the ocean anytime soon because her university is in a landlocked part of the state; she will likely be plumbing the bottom of a pool for starters!!
Then she informed me that her assigned "mentor" had invited her to his lab and I felt kind of freaked out. I don't know-is that the 21st century science-y way of saying, "Hey baby, want to come see my sketches?"
"How old is he?"
"I don't know-mid to late twenties. Why?"
"Is anyone else going?"
"No…but mom, he's my assigned mentor."
Oh yeah, because if a well known university gives this guy the role of "mentor" he's certain to be trustworthy, in a lab, on a Thursday night, after 9 p.m., right?
"DJ, when I was a freshman in college, I went to the university health center for an upper respiratory infection. The 3rd year resident elected to give me a complete breast exam. I trusted him 'cause he was a doctor. ( I should have trusted my gut when it said, "What the hell does this have to do my cough and low grade fever?" and then told him to get his damn hands off of me, but we tend to blindly trust doctors, right?) "Do not give people your trust until they earn your trust."
I could hear her exasperation with me so I didn't want to press it any further. I admit it: I suffer from a form of reverse prejudice. I never worried about this stuff with my sons. I worried that when my oldest son joined a fraternity (a stupid waste of $1500 to purchase a wooden paddle and booze for their frat parties) he would get hazed as part of his initiation. He bought the whole fraternity crap, hook, line and sinker, and still will not tell us what his initiation included because he took an oath….(so rolling my eyes right now.) And Romeo was just so earnest and aware of being safe and didn't really care for partying that I felt like he was fairly insulated from danger. DJ has no interest in sororities (oh thank goodness…if she agreed to wear a plaid skirt and a beret on Wednesdays just because the sorority said so, I would know I'd lost her forever) nor in partying. She is strictly and excitedly interested in math, physics, engineering and astronomy, which includes scuba diving (Yay!!) and visiting isolated labs in the late evening (not so "yay").
You want to plumb the depths of a pool in order to someday plumb the vastness of space? That's cool. But please, plumb your new friends and learn about the hazards of unknown men too….please. In scuba diving, you always have to be aware of your surroundings-remembering your path of entry and means of egress, watching for hazards. Goodness girl-I hope you're doing that with all these new people.
Why couldn't she have been assigned a female mentor? Why didn't I make her stick with Taekwondo? Why can't she be a bit less trusting that all science guys are like Bill Nye?
The University has an app that allows students to track their whereabouts so if they don't show up when they're expected, people will know where to start looking. Am I nuts in so wanting to make sure she uses it, that I refuse to provide spending money until she proves to me she's using it?
Yup-we have lift off. Mom is hovering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_parent She's only 5 feet off the ground presently-quick, somebody ground the helicopter with a well-thrown rock before she hovers over DJ at the University science labs.
She's been at her college now for a few weeks. She phoned me for a quick chat tonight prior to her physics society meeting…what exactly does one do at a physics society meeting? I think of raised pinky fingers sipping tea from fine English bone china when I hear the word "society."
| High Society |
I have no idea what goes on at said physics society meetings, but it's close to 3 in the morning, here in the eastern USA, my brain is foggy and I digress….
Back to scuba diving. This is an essential skill for those who want to be astronauts as it is a means of mimicking the weightlessness that one will experience in space. Now, she will not actually be plumbing the depths of the ocean anytime soon because her university is in a landlocked part of the state; she will likely be plumbing the bottom of a pool for starters!!
Then she informed me that her assigned "mentor" had invited her to his lab and I felt kind of freaked out. I don't know-is that the 21st century science-y way of saying, "Hey baby, want to come see my sketches?"
"How old is he?"
"I don't know-mid to late twenties. Why?"
"Is anyone else going?"
"No…but mom, he's my assigned mentor."
Oh yeah, because if a well known university gives this guy the role of "mentor" he's certain to be trustworthy, in a lab, on a Thursday night, after 9 p.m., right?
"DJ, when I was a freshman in college, I went to the university health center for an upper respiratory infection. The 3rd year resident elected to give me a complete breast exam. I trusted him 'cause he was a doctor. ( I should have trusted my gut when it said, "What the hell does this have to do my cough and low grade fever?" and then told him to get his damn hands off of me, but we tend to blindly trust doctors, right?) "Do not give people your trust until they earn your trust."
I could hear her exasperation with me so I didn't want to press it any further. I admit it: I suffer from a form of reverse prejudice. I never worried about this stuff with my sons. I worried that when my oldest son joined a fraternity (a stupid waste of $1500 to purchase a wooden paddle and booze for their frat parties) he would get hazed as part of his initiation. He bought the whole fraternity crap, hook, line and sinker, and still will not tell us what his initiation included because he took an oath….(so rolling my eyes right now.) And Romeo was just so earnest and aware of being safe and didn't really care for partying that I felt like he was fairly insulated from danger. DJ has no interest in sororities (oh thank goodness…if she agreed to wear a plaid skirt and a beret on Wednesdays just because the sorority said so, I would know I'd lost her forever) nor in partying. She is strictly and excitedly interested in math, physics, engineering and astronomy, which includes scuba diving (Yay!!) and visiting isolated labs in the late evening (not so "yay").
You want to plumb the depths of a pool in order to someday plumb the vastness of space? That's cool. But please, plumb your new friends and learn about the hazards of unknown men too….please. In scuba diving, you always have to be aware of your surroundings-remembering your path of entry and means of egress, watching for hazards. Goodness girl-I hope you're doing that with all these new people.
Why couldn't she have been assigned a female mentor? Why didn't I make her stick with Taekwondo? Why can't she be a bit less trusting that all science guys are like Bill Nye?
The University has an app that allows students to track their whereabouts so if they don't show up when they're expected, people will know where to start looking. Am I nuts in so wanting to make sure she uses it, that I refuse to provide spending money until she proves to me she's using it?
Yup-we have lift off. Mom is hovering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_parent She's only 5 feet off the ground presently-quick, somebody ground the helicopter with a well-thrown rock before she hovers over DJ at the University science labs.
It's called "Newton's cradle".
ReplyDeleteThe "balls thing" that is.
As for DJ, I suspect she's less naive than you're giving her credit for here, but then I've never met her, only emailed a couple times is all.
Hope you're all well.
Thanks Rachel-I amended the post to include that…I realized that my descriptions might not be terribly helpful for readers who speak English as a second language and chose to "spice up" the post with some images.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably quite correct in my assumptions about her naiveté - letting go is not my forte, it appears!!!
I hope you're doing well too :)
Meh! For as long as I've known you, you've seemed (to me) like an incredible mom, I don't see why that should change now.😉😘
DeleteI think that thanks for the valuabe information and insights you have so provided here.
ReplyDeletedj drops