It’s Parents Weekend at the University and today I learned what that means. It means parents spend the next three days going to a lot of frat parties to outdrink their kids and have a weekend of trying to relive “the good old days”.
Everyone I drove today was doing Parents Weekend. I picked up single parents from the airport who rented houses so their kids could bring the parties there. I picked up families going to brunches and dinners, all asking their kids where the cool parties were. I picked up students going to meet their parents and expressing fear that their parents were so going to embarrass them this weekend.
In that final category, I picked UoA well dressed young lady from her apartment and headed in the direction of the dorms. She asked me if I had been busy today due to the Parents Weekend and I told her that I had indeed.
Traffic was nuts and so the drive was slow. She said she dreaded this weekend but it was her senior year and so it was her last one. Her parents decided to stay in a dorm this year and so she couldn’t be happier that she finally moved into an apartment off campus.
She was in a sorority, which she always regretted during this time, because the Greeks always went all out to lure parents to their houses to get them drunk.
She said that the wealthy parents rented big houses in town so if the parties died down at the frat houses, they would have parents who had places with swimming pools and jacuzzis and tons of alcohol. She was glad that her parents hadn’t rented a house but told me they asked about others who had.
The closer we got to her destination, the more anxiety and fear I could hear in her voice.
I had already picked up a number of parents from nearby hotels and motels that I had dropped off at various spots on campus. It was odd because, while the young lady in my car was dressed very well, all the parents I picked up were in jeans and flip flops and shirts with ripped off sleeves (many complained about the heat and worried of that would be an issue with partying).
She said that there would be places with 24 hour partying going on. Breakfast would be made in the morning complete with Bloody Mary’s and mimosas. Then a brunch and pool party then dinner then the football game and back to the frat houses to party until their flights left on Sunday night or Monday morning.
But she imagined it would be great for ride share drivers because there was going to be a great need for rides. I dreaded the idea of driving drunken parents around with their poor kids trying to take care of them… or even worse, with kids just as drunk as they were.
I dropped her off and told her that I hoped she had a fun weekend and that her parents made good choices.
She assured me they would not.
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