In kind of a strange mood today.
For one, today is the first day of my wife's retirement. She's being fairly low-key about it, and indeed intends to find another job. And, of course, she's normally here on Saturday. But somehow, today feels - different.
For another, we never did hear from the guys who were supposed to come out and estimate costs for mowing our yard.
And, I've been exchanging notes with a conversation partner who's having some problems in her life. My daughter said that this happens so often to me, I must be planning to set up shop as a life counselor to French people. Not quite. But yeah, it does kind of feel that way. I like this person, but man, she has problems.
Plus, this election scares me. I think the GOP is going to buy it.
But mostly, it's this college thing. College itself going well. She likes most of her classes. But the Corps of Cadets thing - uh, not so much. It's hard to get a clear picture of what's happening down there. My daughter says she is over wanting to be in the corps - their style of operation doesn't appeal to her. Looking at the Facebook page for the parents of cadets, there's a lively discussion about whether the Corps is doing things well. Most of the comments are from people who are gung-ho, love the corps, pressure makes diamonds, all of that. (Okay, no one actually said that. But that's the feeling.) It gets on my nerves, a little.
I wonder whether, on October 5 (the first day she can leave the Corps without paying a heavy financial penalty) she'll be moving. If she does, that will blow her plan of trying for the military (well, except for OTS, but that's a long shot). If she quits, will she feel like a loser? If she stays, will she feel trapped? We did think that this would be a chance for her to get used to how the military thinks, but it didn't occur to any of us that she might hate it.
Stressful period for us, more so for her.
2 comments:
You have my sympathy. It's not always easy being a parent. I have been there and it seemed all I could do was pray. There's more than one route to happiness and success for our kiddos. It's often hard on the parents, sometimes the kids. Things will work out.
I think you are right. For so long I've assumed that she'd do this, get a commission, be in the military, because she said it was what she wanted. To change her mind based on the Corps -- which is not the real military -- is unfortunate. But I would never say Stick it out because some day you won't have to do it. That logic is asinine. There are, as you say, multiple routes to happiness. And thats really what we want for our kids.
Well, that, and being able to support us in our old age.
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