I remember as the years went on for Joe at McCallie coming home for him was different his freshman year than the year after and the next one. Each year we saw an advance in his maturity, taking ownership and breaking away; feeling the confidence in his ability. I saw that this weekend with Tony and David as they took care of getting home, finalizing their summer plans and looking forward to college decisions.
One of the underlying emotions boarding parents fail to realize is by this time they have sunk or swum. The next round of college visits are nothing more than an extension of boarding school visits and hopefully with a bit less edginess of an eight grader.
We sent our boys off to a world we were not savvy to, often stumbled with our overprotectiveness, and more times that I want to admit called far too many times. Maybe they would be the same or different if they stayed home. Maybe our family would have been different. I don't know the answer except I will never second guess our connection to McCallie.
I do know we are grateful to have our boys home and wish Joe could be with us.
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