Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A Rite Of Passage For Parents

Yesterday, one of our sons received a good job offer from an excellent company. He had graduated in December with a technical degree chosen to give him a solid career, but the employment environment in Southern California right now is pretty poor and for 4 months, he knocked on every door and applied for every opportunity to no avail.

We were overjoyed at the news, but that's not what struck me the most. I was surprised at the pride I felt. I have always been proud of him, but this was very different. It was the culmination of over 2 decades of dedicating my life to being a good father. All of the years spent coaching Little League, helping with his science fair projects, reading to him in bed and just being there to play with him came at me, not in melancholy or fond nostalgia, but as steps towards this one goal.

What I felt more than anything was that we had succeeded as parents. He's a good lad, he goes to church, he's got a fine degree and now he's started on his career.

Now would it kill him to find a nice, Catholic girl, get married and give us some grandchildren already?

:-)

6 comments:

Mostly Nothing said...

Congratulations to the lad!

Our youngest just finished his first year of college. He states he "went clutch" on his Diff Eq final. Always the baseball metafore. He is attempting to load everything up today to head home.

tim eisele said...

Congratulations to your son! I hope he has a rewarding and renumerative career.

But on the other thing - what if she's a nice, churchgoing Mormon girl?

Ohioan@Heart said...

Congrats. I know how that feels. As one who's a bit ahead, and has two grandkids (with two more on the way), it will all come to pass in the fullness of time. You've raised him right. => He'll do well.

Ilíon said...

Congrats, and may your quiver soon be overflowing.

Ilíon said...

"But on the other thing - what if she's a nice, churchgoing Mormon girl?"

Then she wouldn't be a Christian. And for all the flaws in Catholicism, most Catholics are Christians ... and it is as serious a sin for a Christian to marry a non-Christian (*) as for a "practicing" Jew to marry a non-Jew.

(*) Try to imagine the marriage of a 1950s patriotic American to a committed Soviet. Why would anyone do that to themselves? If the American really *is* patriotic, and the Soviet really *is* committed to International Socialism, they are enemies. So, the only way for such a marriage to work is for one or the other to essentially convert ... or for both to become cynics.

psudrozz said...

Well done. My second daughter is due soon, and i hope to be in this position in about 20 years.