10 PM

At a little after 10 pm last night, my oldest chick arrived back in the nest, as illustrated by this car in the Smith driveway.

This morning I went out and glanced into his car and was so pleased to see that he had practiced good, healthy eating habits on the 13-hour journey from Florida to North Carolina.

For lunch today, I fixed him a small repast for which he seemed very grateful. I guess anything would be tasty after thirteen hours of potato chips and Dollar Menu  selections at McDonalds. 

Unfortunately, he arrived home rather sick, with a horrible cough.   Steve brought out a whole array of cough medicines, decongestants, antihistames and of course, the old standby, Vicks VapoRub.   He then proceeded to rub Vicks into Nathan’s back and chest and then, as the grand finale’, also put some on his neck before pinning a white sock into place around said neck.  Sorry, I didn’t get a picture. 

Poor Nathan.  He came home anticipating a quiet, low key welcome and was suddenly set upon by maniacal parents and a boatload of new- and old-fashioned remedies.

After about an hour the cough meds kicked in and he slept pretty quietly.  However, today the cough was even worse so I took him to the doctor and then to the pharmacy with prescriptions.  Ah.  Nothing like getting to be a mom to my College Dude.

Nathan is now happily ensconced downstairs with computer and TV nearby.    It’s a rough life.