InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "But I'm Le tired!"

Dr. Hannibal Lecter (poisonlittleboy) wrote in valarnet,
@ 2013-04-30 17:36:00

Entry tags:

abigail hobbs, beth cassidy, eli, hannibal lecter, mavis dracula, oliver queen (green arrow)

Watching Abigail prepare for her first year at university, I can't help but reflect on my own experiences.

I graduated pre-med in France, but it was my graduate studies I remember most fondly. I was nineteen, and was traveling to America for the first time in order to pursue a medical degree at Johns Hopkins. I remember being like a duck in a pond; calm on the surface but paddling furiously under the water.

I see so much of myself in my daughter. She's very mature for her age, but I can tell she's nervous about going off next year. At least she won't be going too far, and I can keep her under my wing a bit longer.

Having a child, I've found, makes me very nostalgic for my own childhood. Has anyone else found the same?

(Post a new comment)

	mavey_wavey 2013-05-01 12:12 am UTC (link)
	I'm starting this year, if all goes well. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 02:30 am UTC (link)
	Where are you attending, if I might ask? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mavey_wavey 2013-05-01 02:32 am UTC (link)
	University of California, Irvine. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 02:42 am UTC (link)
	That is where my daughter intends to go. Perhaps you and she will be classmates. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mavey_wavey 2013-05-01 02:43 am UTC (link)
	Hopefully I will have learned to stay afloat by then. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 02:44 am UTC (link)
	I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mavey_wavey 2013-05-01 02:52 am UTC (link)
	Thank you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	above_all 2013-05-01 01:29 am UTC (link)
	Absolutely. I decorated my daughter's room with a lot of the things I liked in my childhood and a lot of the things that my fiancée liked as well. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 02:31 am UTC (link)
	When I adopted her, she was old enough to decorate her own room. Which is for the best, as I'm not terribly experienced with decorating a young girl's room. She might have ended up with medical texts instead of toys. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	above_all 2013-05-01 02:36 am UTC (link)
	My daughter's only a few months old, and she's already got an electron microscope. Her moms are science geeks, so she's going to probably end up a musician or something. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 02:43 am UTC (link)
	I was surprised to find that Abigail wished to follow in my footsteps, but I'm very pleased with her choice. At least I know I'll be able to help her along the way. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	above_all 2013-05-01 02:47 am UTC (link)
	She's lucky she's got a good dad. That much is obvious. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 03:00 am UTC (link)
	I'm very lucky to have such a wonderful daughter. The circumstances that brought us together are unfortunate, but I'm fortunate to have found her. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	laniidae 2013-05-01 01:31 am UTC (link)
	I hope I end up half as successful as you, Dad. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 02:32 am UTC (link)
	I've no doubt in my mind that you will, my dear Abigail. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	acearcher 2013-05-01 02:15 am UTC (link)
	I know what you mean. I got mine when he was eleven and it brought SO much back. He's studying for college entrance stuff now and man, the memories. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 02:39 am UTC (link)
	I adopted my Abigail later in life as well, which is not something I would have seen for myself. But now that she's in my life, I can't imagine her out of it. She came to me a little over two years ago, when her parents died in an unfortunate accident. Her father was a close friend of mine and so I offered to take her in. It was the best decision of my life. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	acearcher 2013-05-01 08:49 pm UTC (link)
	Exactly. My Roy was sort of a...I didn't expect it, even though I'd been his godfather the entire time. But I can't think about life without him at ALL. Hardest, most amazing and rewarding thing I've ever done. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-04 04:16 am UTC (link)
	There are things you think you're prepared for, but you truly aren't at all. A first kiss, going off to college. All the major milestones that you'd nearly forgotten about. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	dashdotdash 2013-05-01 02:38 am UTC (link)
	The culture shock coming from France must have been terrible, I know it was for me. And I was only in France for a few years. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-01 02:41 am UTC (link)
	It was certainly different. I'd moved to France when I was a young boy, from Eastern Europe, so I was at least used to shifting from one country to the next. But it was still odd, to say the least. What was the hardest part about adjusting to America for you? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dashdotdash 2013-05-01 02:45 am UTC (link)
	My birth father is in the Army, and my mother was a translator, so I was born in Stockholm. We didn't live in many places for more than a few years, but I think I liked France and Germany best. I do not know if it is so much America as it is Orange County in general, but the weather is so relentlessly sunny. It makes me long for rain. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

poisonlittleboy
2013-05-01 02:49 am UTC (link)

I'm from Vilnius, Lithuania, originally. But it wasn't a stable environment in which to raise children, so we moved to live with an aunt and uncle in Paris. I have happy memories of both places, but I spent most of my time in Paris.

It is very sunny here, isn't it? It hardly seems like we have a winter. I lived in Maryland for a while when I first came to America, so I'm used to it being a bit colder.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dashdotdash 2013-05-01 03:01 am UTC (link)
	But I've heard it's beautiful. I was in Nice for a few years, I liked it very much. I expect I'll miss snow. There's nothing as beautiful as Lake Mälaren in winter. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-04 04:17 am UTC (link)
	There's a little snow here, but not much. Not like Sweden, of course. At least, not in this part of California. Up in the forests and the mountains they see quite a bit of snow. Up in Yosemite, for instance. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dashdotdash 2013-05-04 04:23 am UTC (link)
	Perhaps I will ask my papa if we can go camping closer to the Christmas holidays. I would like that - a cabin would be nice. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	poisonlittleboy 2013-05-04 04:34 am UTC (link)
	It isn't home, of course, but at least you'll have a white Christmas. (Reply to this) (Parent)