A Wake Up Call

AW and I snapped back to reality. Here was our 18 year old, sweet college freshman, 500 miles away and at the hospital with a head injury. He had been transported to the emergency room by his dorm friend, and I could tell by the sheepishness from both of them that there was more to the story they were telling than I was hearing.

Carter is at San Diego State (yes, I know, party school) and is rushing a fraternity. I encouraged him to do so, so that he could get really engaged in college life. Cart has always shown himself to be very careful and conscientious. We were well aware of the risky behavior and drinking culture he would encounter, but have remained hopeful that he would not allow his social life to get out of hand.

We are not sure what exactly happened, but we are sure that it had to do with alcohol. I think he has been running himself ragged, with a full load, pledge class commitments, attending parties on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and just not getting enough sleep. I think he drank hard alcohol, perhaps for the first time, and a lot of it.

I quizzed his buddy Drew on the phone. Carter had blacked out and fallen during an alumni luncheon at the fraternity for which he was volunteering his time. He fell hard on a concrete floor. His friend brought him back to his room to rest, but he slept for the rest of the day, waking up with a really bad headache and blurry vision.

I asked Drew, "Did he drink last night?"

He was very respectful, "Yes, sir. He was at a party, but didn't drink that much."

I asked, "Okay, so how much is not that much?"

He answered, "Not enough to get a hangover. Like, no more than EIGHT SHOTS."

Seriously. That's what he said.

Fortunately, my sister and her family live in the San Diego area. She became our eyes and ears the next day. They picked him up at the hospital and took him back to their house for a couple nights. She talked to the doctor and extensively to Carter, then reported back to me with her observations.

This is scary stuff. I have never felt this out of the loop with one of my kids. I realize that he is 18 and needs to make some mistakes to learn from them, but that doesn't make it any less worrisome. The bottom line will be when his grades come out. We have decided that if he does not make a B average, then he will have one more semester to bring the grades up. If that doesn't happen, he will be coming home and continuing his education at the local community college.

He's back at school and his headache has slowly subsided. We will pray that he can keep it on track.