After 22.5 years of caring and worrying and planning and helping and advising and arguing and spending - this evening, my older son graduates with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He has a job lined up and we're moving him to a real apartment (not student apartment) next week.

It really is a time for mixed emotions as he leaves the nest for good.

 

I wonder which gopher is happier, the brave or the chief.

 

Congratulations to you. Your secular responsibility is complete. I'm sure you're very proud of him.

And mechanical engineering is great. It can lead anywhere.

 

I wonder which gopher is happier, the brave or the chief.

I think happy will come in a few weeks for him. Today he is still a bit dazed and confused.

 

It really is a time for mixed emotions as he leaves the nest for good.

Changes, milestones and coming of age... yeah, I guess mixed feelings are unavoidable. My kid's finishing his second semester in Chemical Engineering and Nanotechnology and was granted a 60% scolarship. It's great to have something in common between us. We both love science and technology. And my wife's a computer scientist as well... guess that makes us a family of nerds, doesn't it? ... nerds indeed, but very happy ones.

Congrats on your boy's graduation and his new job. Raising a kid takes wisdom, patience and hard work... you must have done something right!

 

Congrats!

 

Well done, Dad! It's a great feeling. Congratulations to all!

 

Congratulations to you both!

 

You have a lot to be happy about.
I tried to be a surrogate father for my nephew.
I've gone from hope to frustration to apathy.
I don't even return his phone calls any more because I know that whatever he says, it won't happen.
It's probably good that I never propagated. This would hurt a lot more if he was my own son.

Wallow in the happiness. You earned it.

 

Congratulations! How many siblings are left in the nest to guide out?

Bravo Zulu!

 

I don't even return his phone calls any more because I know that whatever he says, it won't happen.
It's probably good that I never propagated. This would hurt a lot more if he was my own son.

Maybe you don't know it yet... but I'm pretty sure there are lots of people out there that you've helped to better themselves...
Humans are not only about DNA, you know... our actions propagate through time far further than our own biology

 

You're right. No use pondering one of my failures when I have so many successes.
It's just that Gopher scored a win exactly where I scored a fail.

 

Congratulations! How many siblings are left in the nest to guide out?

Bravo Zulu!

Thank you! I have one more. Two years to go.

 

Getting through college is, in my opinion, a huge amount of luck.

Some of the events that can derail a college career can be managed to improve the chances of success and some are pure luck. We have been setting the stage for a college career for a long time and we've been discussing current and next steps looking for possible bumps that can derail them along the way. I still know there were dozens and dozens of lucky things.
- No depression-inducing girlfriend break-ups,
- no missed classes due to illness or injury
- no roommate issues,
- no scheduling conflicts with work
- no death/illness of a parent or stressful divorce
- no pregnant girlfriend
- no...

He also had the luck of having two parents with advanced degrees - and one who made almost every possible mistake and experienced many unlucky events along the way - and he was smart enough to listen and learn from those experiences and mistakes.

- we also (luckily) found a way to minimize his stresses associated with funding his education.

 

Getting through college is, in my opinion, a huge amount of luck.

Yeah! Your kids luck!
I had to wait for the telephone man to drop bits of wire for my hobby while my country bumpkin parents fought about drinking and cheating.
Will you be my daddy?

 

Now to the serious side...You are completely right and the kind of parent I wish I had.

 

You have a lot to be happy about.
I tried to be a surrogate father for my nephew.
I've gone from hope to frustration to apathy.
I don't even return his phone calls any more because I know that whatever he says, it won't happen.
It's probably good that I never propagated. This would hurt a lot more if he was my own son.

Wallow in the happiness. You earned it.

I have a son like that, breaks my heart. The other two are nothing like him luckily.

@GopherT, Congratulations Gopher.

 

I wish to hear such the happiest moment forever in your life! (mixer of emotions though)