First Weekend w/out Justin

Well, Diane and I are going through the next phase of empty nesting – the first weekend Justin stays at college.

We dropped him on on Sept. 17th. The first weekend he came home. (To a much cleaner house, I might add. ) Then on the next weekend we picked him up and took him to visit friends in Indiana. So, even though we are officially empty nesters when we shipped him off to college, I prefer to view it in phases.

He calls me on his cell phone nearly every day to keep me posted on all the little things in his life.Cell phones are so nice with a family plan there is no charge to talk. I wish he would call his mother as often. Perhaps it’s a father-son thing.

We’ve been working toward this for 18 years, consciously giving him more and more freedom. At time, perhaps, too much, rarely too little. Overall I feel like we’ve done pretty well. He’s had enough responsibility to allow him to mature but has never had to worry about things like how to pay medical bills or where the next meal will come from. He owns plenty of "stuff" but has also experienced the feeling of want and not being able to have. He’s experienced love and love lost while not losing confidence in himself and becoming devastated. He has experienced the joy and satisfaction that comes with working on something for many years and and gaining proficiency through his guitar. I hope this transfers to other areas of his life. I’m feeling a real sense of satisfaction.

Life is Good.