On His Way to the Prom

My dear son, Dylan. What a cutie!

Evolution

I suppose the best any of us can hope for is that during our very brief time here on earth we somehow, personally and/or collectively, help advance our species', or at least our families' prospects.

As I dropped off my youngest son at his mom's today, I thought about the ways he and I are similar, and different. Dylan can probably be described as shy; I certainly was at his age. But he is nowhere near as shy as I was, and still am.

He can also be described as a party person. No one ever labeled me that way.

Proof: He is going with a date to his high school prom tonight -- something I never had the guts to do.

We've been talking the past few days about his college options. He has them, but seems to self-depreciate his ability to make a decision. Something as important as where to go to college is such a significant decision that any 18-year-old should be cut a huge break if he feels complex and ambiguous feelings trying to make it.

Maybe I can help him here.

Dylan reads Faulkner. He's fallen in love with one of the greatest American authors a year before I did. For me, it happened as a freshman at the University of Michigan. I was assigned those readings. For Dylan it is happening in high school, and voluntarily.

This is a simply anecdotal post. There is no science here. But in my eyes, my beautiful youngest son has already surpassed anything I could have accomplished at his age.