On (In) the planes again

On the planes again, this time to Ithaca for older child’s orientation. Of course, it is absurd to refer to Emma as ‘older child;’ she is eighteen and about to leave home for college. She is not a child, but she is my child. We never quite stop being children to our parents (unless perhaps at their deaths), and we never stop being parents to our children. My concerns and worries will never go away, though the particulars of the concerns might change with time. But right now I am saddened that she will be leaving the home. We who remain at home will have to redirect our energies now.
At college orientations (at least at this one), there is very little of substance for adults to do. Which is not to say that the offices do not plan activities, but that they are time-fill. The students must be there, and someone must deliver them to the college, and so the college must provide activities for the parents. I was not in the least interested in touring the campus, or sitting through meeting after meeting on a lovely Summer’s day. So, of course, I headed right into the movies where the air conditioner was set too high. Saw A Mighty Heart, the story of the search for Daniel Pearl after his kidnapping. Interesting to me that the film is being advertised as a tour de force for Angelina Jolie, but that wasn’t my impression at all. I thought the film depicted the helplessness of the United States power to do anything to effect the release of Pearl, or to find him when his release was not imminent. The chaos of Pakistan was as much a major character as Angelina Jolie.