It’s a bittersweet moment in my life as I pack my son off this week to begin his next chapter. He is off to college 1,200 miles away to study math and computer science, and play basketball. I can barely remember what it was like not to have Ethan around. From the impish, perpetually giggling four-year-old who endlessly made me chase him around the house to the gigantic teenager, chronically leaving his size 16 sneakers where everyone would trip on them, he has always been there. I feel badly for his generation. The COVID restrictions have meant that some of the important life events, like high school graduation and a prom, have been skipped over or radically altered. The college experience is going to be quite different from the carefree one with which we were blessed. We adults have sufficient perspective to recognize that eventually, the disruption will pass, but I am not sure that teenagers can contextualize as easily. In the way that the parents of baby boomers were forever altered by their experience coming of age in WW2, this group will always be the “COVID Generation”. Ethan is handling it well and is excited about upcoming challenges. I hope that, if someone in your family is entering a new phase, that it goes equally well for them. Sincerely, David Harris |
