Last week, Janae was "away" at a youth conference held at UBC. (You'll understand the quotation marks in a minute.)
During this time, I was scrolling through Facebook and came across a post from a distant acquaintance whose teenagers were attending the same event. Her statement was something like this: "My kids are having a great time at our church's youth conference, making friends and learning new things--I'm so grateful they're having this experience."
This stung a little as I wondered what it must be like. Our experience was a bit different, or at least it seemed to be. Here's a glimpse:
Monday morning--I dropped Janae and two friends off at UBC for the youth conference.
Alaina, Eric and I made the most of our time in Vancouver by visiting Second Beach--we weren't planning to come back, since Janae's friend's mom would be picking the girls up on Saturday morning.
Monday afternoon--I received this message: "I want to go home."
Tuesday morning: "I hate it so much here. I want to go home. I'm so done."
Later Tuesday morning: "I'm literally crying in the bathrooms."
Later Tuesday morning: "They said you can come and pick me up."
Tuesday afternoon--I drove the almost 2 hours back to UBC to pick Janae up (then 2 hours back home).
Wednesday morning--I took Janae to a walk-in medical clinic.
Wednesday afternoon--Janae wanted to go back to the youth conference, so I drove her back to UBC (did I mention this takes two hours?).
Thursday afternoon--I got this message: "I AM DYING. I REPEAT I AM DYING."
Friday morning: "I think you might have to pick me up because I think I have the stomach flu."
Later Friday morning: "I can't do this anymore."
Later Friday morning: "My counsellor said you should call the site office and notify them that you are going to pick me up."
Friday afternoon--I drove back to UBC (2 hours) to pick up Janae, as well as her friend who was also sick. On the way, I found out that my nephew was sick, too, so we brought him home as well. Jason asked, "What are you, the emergency evac unit?"
I think I was, although no one extended the title officially.
When we arrived at UBC, Janae's first reaction was irritation: Alaina was wearing a UBC sweatshirt, meaning we had gone to the bookstore without her. (Eric was holding a "bendy pen," also from the bookstore, but Janae didn't seem to notice that.)
So, we dragged all the legitimately sick kids back over to the bookstore (leaving one in the car), and Janae looked at the UBC-logoed merchandise. In the end, she left with nothing, commenting "I didn't even like it here."
But talking to her later, she said she actually had a really good time. She didn't like getting up early, starved because she hated the cafeteria food, and didn't feel well the whole time, but overall, it was pretty fun.
I'm so confused....
Anyway, I now have a lot more experience driving in Vancouver, our van has accumulated substantial mileage, and I have realized that Janae should NOT live in cafeteria dorms when she goes to college.
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