No More High School - Yet Again
No More High School - Yet Again
Can it be? My daughter, the elder of my two children, finished
her first year of college a few weeks ago. My son, as of today
when he took his final High School final exam, no longer will be
attending High School. In the Fall (well, actually the late
Summer) he will be off to college.
Both of them -- in college.
How did this happen? This is a theme often revisited in these
parts. When my daughter turned 18 it was an eye opener. How
did I manage to be the father of an 18 year old girl, I asked out
loud. She quickly reponded, "Easy, Dad. You got old!"
My son, discussing a matter with me in the strictest of confidence,
expressed his concerns about something that might plague him, "for the
rest of his life." I assured him that the rest of his life was a
long journey, and that his matter of concern would seem rather
infinitesimal in a very short time. They may be getting older,
but at least I can still dispense advice.
My father, in his 80s, still dispenses advice worth listening to, and my mother also has her fair share of worthy things to say.
Time goes by faster by the year. Memories remain vivid, they just
seem further back. I recall my Summer between High School and
Freshman Year of college. I was working as the drummer in a teen
band at a Borscht Belt hotel, and filling in for the Lounge Band drummer, who was more often drunk than not. That was the Summer of Woodstock, and a family vacation to Jamaica.
I ended up going to Woodstock for years to come, attending reunions. And I ended up going back to Jamaica
a good many more times, as well, for vacations and to get some time
away from the daily routine. Fact is, as mentioned around here a
time or two in the past, I chose to sell my Woodstock tickets and join my family on a vacation to Jamaica.
Oops, missed out on some history.
Now my kids are at that same stage of life. Early college years,
getting to live away from home and to fend for themselves, be
responsible for all their daily needs, wants, obligations and
necessities. I am happy for them, proud of them, glad to see them
growing up. But there's a part of me that wonders how they got
here, to this stage in life, so fast.
These times feel so similar to that period of my life, the late 60's and the early 70's. An untrustworthy Republican president, an unjust war, a very strong sense of divide
in the country. Politics and social issues occupied my mind, and
were issues of great import to me and many others, my friends and
people in my general age group. There was a unity in being part
of a counter culture or alternative school of thought. We learned
back then that we were not alone, we were part of a large group of like-minded counterparts. Woodstock and war protests brought together large masses of people.
And now my kids are part of a generation with those same issues, and they're at
the same stage of life. Maybe this is a mathematical sort of
thing, occuring in each generation, as the torches pass. Or maybe
it just so happens to be that way. Whatever the case, here I am
in my 50's, thinking about the 60's, and how the 00's (are these going to be called "the oughts?") will have a significant effect on my kids. Except these days the war protests are ignored, and rock concerts or major tour events are just an everyday sort of thing.
Life keeps zooming by. The older one gets, the faster the zoom. At this point it seems like a Mazda commercial: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom.
