Reading Week.......or, Jennifer and the Jessicas

It is that time again. Reading Week. University students are given a week off from classes to get caught up on assignments and readings, hence the name Reading Week. In all of my university days as well as the time my kids have been in school, I have yet to meet one student who actually read during reading week.

I distinctly remember my reading week trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That was the cool place to be at the time. I went to Florida with one girlfriend and when I got there I met almost my entire University there. Everyone had flocked to the shores of the Atlantic for one wild week. I thought it was wild at the time but it definitely was not a “Girls Gone Wild” week. Honest.

Kaitlin has just left today for the Dominican. It is hard to believe she will be staying in a five star, all-inclusive resort while a mere hundred miles or so away in Haiti there are millions of people living destitute. This is definitely an example of our haves and have not world.

I will be picking up Jennifer at the bus station on Saturday morning. We have agreed to meet downtown Toronto and then take a trip to the AGO, (the Art Gallery of Ontario). There is currently a King Tut exhibition going on. I remember the excitement of King Tut his last visit to Toronto in the late ‘70’s. There was King Tut mania. Steve Martin even had a hit song on the radio.

On Monday the real excitement of reading week will begin with the arrival of the Jessicas. As you may recall I mentioned in an earlier blog about how Jennifer met the Jessicas while going to school in England and they made her year. Once she met the Jessicas she suddenly transformed from homesick Jen to party animal Jen. They spent the year travelling across Europe and apparently doing some studying. I am definitely looking forward to officially meeting the Jessicas. The trio have become known to me as “Jennifer and the Jessicas”, they just belong together.

After Jennifer returned from England and moved officially to Kingston to finish her degree at Queen’s, she rented a house right across the street from campus. Jennifer and the Jessicas became room mates. After a year of living with the Jessicas, Jennifer decided she wanted to stay friends with them so she moved out on her own. Again, I don’t know details but I have learned not to ask. I just know the Jessicas are moving in here with me for two days and I am waiting with great anticipation. What will they do here in the Niagara Region that could possibly compare to trips south, or for that matter, travels across Europe? What about food? (Always the mother worried about what they will eat) I wonder what they have in mind for activities? I am sure there will be much to tell about their stay with us. Stay tuned………