Grey Hair

Okay, now I can feel the grey hairs growing out of my head. All it took was to get a nice birthday phone call from my son at college. Jeff is a freshman at THE Ohio State University, and is a fairly long way from home. His mother and I worry about how he is doing, if he is missing us, eating enough, sleeping enough, making friends, doing his laundry the right way, and on and on. I am sure my folks did this type of worrying about me too, but it didn't seem like it at the time. Jeff is probably the same way...anyway, he called home to wish me a Happy Birthday and we got to talking about his first Spring Break coming up. He has decided that he will spend it with some friends in Daytona Beach, FL. He signed up to go down there (driving all night) with a group from "Real Life", a Christian organization. He has been fairly involved with them since school started. He said they are going to introduce themselves to other kids on the beach, sharing their faith a little while soaking up some sun. We have all seen these groups of kids, singing at sunrise, praying in a big group, and then splitting up into smaller teams to play frisbee and catch with strangers hoping to spark a conversation. His other choice was heading to New Orleans to volunteer with the clean-up efforts. Both worthy endeavors, but I think the sun and sand of Daytona won out. But that isn't what is greying me prematurely...

He had also just decided to back out of his involvement with a fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon (Teeks). Turns out the hazing was getting a little out of hand. He didn't think it was worth it, and even changed his mind about the organization. He went through the Rush process filled with excitement about the fraternity, and now after experiencing a little too much hazing, he had second thoughts. I am glad he is willing to talk to me about it. Besides the typical "slavery" duties they are forced to do for the more senior brothers, it seems they had the pledges clean the Schottenstein Fieldhouse after a big basketball game and left them there late at night without rides. He got a little pissed that he and a few others were left behind without any warning. The final straw was when they forced the pledges (underage) to drink alcohol until they puked. I think that is what turned him 180 degrees. He is making some man-sized decisions and I am really proud of him, but at the same time I am worrying for him. I am glad he has the sense to understand when he is being put into bad situations. He called the frat to let them know he was pulling his membership.

Don't you just wish your kids could just benefit from your wisdom and not have to endure tough lessons in life? Isn't this the same question all parents throughout history have asked?

I will be on the road for the next couple of weeks traveling east. I will try to keep this updated, but forgive me if I don't.

Chow for now! (Yes, Irene I spelled it this way on purpose!)