Seriously??!!

I was just looking at a sale flyer from a local store and it was advertising all of the things that college students need in their dorm rooms. Things like hampers that coil and compress, storage units on wheels for under the bed, lights with cool shades, chairs that only people with no spine can sit on and so on. I started reflecting on when I headed off to college. My freshman year my folks drove me to the college. I sat in the back seat of a mid-size car and in the trunk were all of my clothes, my electric typewriter, my bedding and school supplies like notebooks, pencils, etc. Everything fit in the trunk and it took all of about 3 trips to unload the car and get the stuff into my dorm room. Since I was only about 3 hours from home my parents took off and headed back.

Contrast that with my daughter's freshman trip to college. We drove 12 hours to get to her university with a minivan that was loaded from the front seats to the rear from top to bottom with clothes, more clothes, shoes, more shoes, computer, small table, assorted dish ware, pillows for head and for decorating the bed, t.v., lamps for the desk and floor, pictures....did I mention clothes and shoes? It was so packed that the bottom bumper only had a clearance of 2 inches. I think you get the picture. It took us most of the day to unload the van and haul her stuff down two flights of stairs to her dorm room.

You would think that with laptop computers and iphones and ipods that the trip to college now would fit into one cardboard box, but yet kids are towing U-Hauls behind their cars loaded now with all of their life possessions. What happened to getting back to the simple things in life and cutting down on all of the junk we have. Yeah, I know kids need those laptops, iphones, ipods, designer jeans, etc. etc. because now it's all about image and it's darn tough to make friends and text them if you don't have all of the gear and look good at the same time and parents sure don't want their babies to be on the outside looking in! Sigh! Mom