let's play match the kid with the correct parental unit

Because I was flying solo at Ed's college orientation, there was occasional small talk between the wide-eyed, soak-it-all-in parents.

By the way, do you feel dis-oriented with my apparent lingering presence at orientation?  I am trying to avoid excessively long posts by breaking this down, because it's summer - so free time and fun in the sun and all.  Shorter - better?

Now, back to picking apart my orientation experience . . .

When small talk was able to be avoided, I fully partook in some genuinely entertaining people watching.

I paused more than once wishing I could see whose kid was whose, but alas we were separated from our kin (not sure where that term came from - Ed is NOT going to school in the deep south or anything).  Imagine how fun it would be if I could tag a few kids and find out if Eddie ever ended up crossing paths with them, or their odd parents at football tailgaters or something.

I do not use my phone as deftly as most, but I
 found myself snapping photos of various slides
fearing that I would miss some pertinant piece
 of info.  Pretty sure I will never
 look at these pictures again.

This one dad, 'Mr. Temper' lost it early on.  He reminded me SO much of my father in law.  Not being related to him allowed me to find his presence entertaining rather than frustrating.  Plain and simple.  So, the parents, minus their offspring, had just been lectured on academics  It was an overview.  Credits.  Various majors.  Choosing and switching majors.  How to create your own major or find time to double major.  Parents fumbled for phones multiple times to snap photos of screens displayed on the overhead.

At last, it was time time for questions.  Mr. Temper erupted when someone asked for clarification:  'Are parents really not allowed in the advising appointment when students would pick classes?'  Mr. Temper lurched a little in his seat and hollered:  'This is WHY!  Move on, cut the questions off.'

For the record, this question about parents admittance in the advising sessions continued to be asked throughout the day.  Each time I craned my neck to see if I could spot Mr. Temper to see how he was handling the repetition.

Apparently, Mr. T (how fitting) wanted to rush things along, eliminate further questions.  I could wonder if he had someplace else to be, but I had the orientation schedule right in front of me.  We were all headed in the same direction..  The minute one lecture was done we were herded into another building for the next discussion.  I assume he was at this college with his youngest, and his short fuse was due to this not being his first rodeo.

I was pretty confident there was no 'Oh, look we're done early' option regardless of how many silly questions were asked.  I enjoyed watching him from a distance all day, and I marveled at how his wife didn't try to crawl under an auditorium chair at some point.  Who is his kid?  I will probably never know, but God help us if senior year Ed introduces us to his serious girlfriend and her parents:  Mr. T and Mrs. Patience.