Family Day at Chickadee’s school approacheth. In theory I think this is a great idea—some of those kids probably haven’t seen their folks since they left home, and some parents are probably dying to see their kid(s) in their school element. In practice, I see my kid plenty, and whoops, she’s actually going to be home that weekend, so it’s something we’ll be skipping, but whatever. It’s a nice thing the college does.

Here’s some preamble to what comes next: I don’t know if things have just changed everywhere since I was in school, of if Chickie’s college is unique in this, but it seems like there is a “come get your free stuff” table set up in their quad at least a couple of times a week. I enjoy following them on Twitter to see what they’re offering on any given day, mostly so that I can then text my child and say “ZOMG A FREE BOTTLE OF WATER FOR A SURVEY, QUICK, DITCH CLASS AND RUN TO THE QUAD.” I can only assume that my comments are super helpful. On the other hand, she and her friends avail themselves of most of these “free stuff” opportunities, and in addition to now owning a wardrobe comprised almost entirely of free t-shirts, I happen to know she went and toured some campus apartments purely for the free pizza coupon. Girl has priorities.

Anyway! In anticipation of Family Day, one day the table in the quad was a COME SEND YOUR FAMILY A POSTCARD AND URGE THEM TO COME VISIT thing. Because my child is always SO hard at work, she apparently stopped by the table to 1) take advantage of this glorious opportunity, 2) even though she already knew we wouldn’t be coming, and 3) made sure to send a postcard to everyone. EVERYONE.

Needless to say, when I grabbed the mail yesterday, I was delighted.

I read Duncan his card, first:

Then Licorice:

Monkey was at school, but I think he enjoyed his when he got home:

And of course Otto and I were profoundly touched by the sincere love demonstrated in the one she wrote to us:

(Scotty is her RA. That bastard.) (Don’t worry, she adores Scotty.) (Also, I am pretty sure she wasn’t bitten by a turtle, but this morning she did send me a long text about how she tried to close her closet with her foot and ended up hurting her leg, concluding with a pitiful, “College is hard.”)

In conclusion: College is turning out to be a lot of fun for all of us.