The Kids Are Alright

The last couple of weeks we have taken a couple of trips to see the kids.  Last week Cathie and I drove down to St. Louis to see Stewart run in the Washington University Invite, and of course to spend a little time with him.  The meet was long and I thought rather unorganized, but Stew and his team had a pretty good day --especially the girls....Go Billikens!!!  I had a chance to talk a little with some of Stews friends, and they really seem like a nice group of people.  All very polite and with nice things to say about Stew.  And they all seemed truly sincere about it too.  We were able to have a late dinner and an early breakfast with Stewart, and I came away with a couple of things.  Although he has always had a pretty good idea of what needs to get done and how to get there, I don't ever recall him being more focused than he seems now.  He definitely seems to have a plan on where he wants to go with his schooling and what needs to be done to achieve his goals. He was nice to people, funny, polite, courteous, pretty much all you could ask for.  Even answered questions with more than a one word answer.  It was good to see him.

This weekend we headed up to Minneapolis to visit with Aleah.  They have a couple of days off for Easter, so the dorm was pretty much empty.  I was hoping to meet some of her new friends, but maybe another time.  Aleah always seems to have something going on.  She has pledged to a fraternity (yes a fraternity--its a co-ed business thing) which is taking up some of her time, but she seems real excited about it.   She has met a lot of people and really seems happy to be here. She has already experienced some neat things--tours of companies, meeting people, things like that.  She also has adapted to college life real well.

I come away from my visits with a few things.  There seems to be a heck of a lot more studying in college than when I was there.  The kids I talked to seem to have a better grasp of what is going on in the world than I did--probably because of the internet.  Information is just a touch away!!  And the seem to be involved with more stuff than I remember.  I know there were more things available way back, but I think there is more happening now.  I also seem to think that it really wouldn't surprise me that when my kids are done with college they won't be coming back home. Stew really seems to like St. Louis, and I don't think Wisconsin is a place you really want to start a teaching career.  And there seem to be so many opportunities in the business world that I can see Aleah staying right here.  And the farther along they go in college, the more I'm okay with that.  I can see them maturing each time we get together.  As much as they'll always be my little boy and little girl, I think they are going to do fine.  The kids are alright......