My Son, the Planner, and His College List

My 16 year-old son is a planner.  

When he was young, he loved to decide which activities would take place at family parties.  I vividly remember the “Minute to Win It” party - strapping a tissue box filled with ping pong balls to my uncle’s back to see if he could shake them out in a minute.  He did.  I remember the following year playing wiffleball with the grandparents on the front lawn.  It was fun to tag my dad out.

Every Christmas he most looked forward to buying us gifts at the Holiday Gift Shop at school.  I kid you not when I say that was his favorite day of the school year.  Days before he would have a list of whom he was buying for.  When he came home, the list had little check marks and Luke was carrying a bag full of beautifully wrapped, chosen-with-love presents.  

Last night he popped downstairs and handed me a list.  Since he is a junior in high school, he has been thinking long and hard about college.  The list breaks up his choices by geographic locations, names the pros of each one, and even has the proposed courses of study - a mix of computer science and philosophy.  This is actually the second college list that he has given me.  He has refined and expanded the first list.

As I look at this list I am both excited and sad.  Excited for him that he views the world as his oyster, and he does not feel contained to choose colleges around him or even in the United States. Sad for me because that list includes colleges not around us or even in the United States. 

My eye then catches my stack of notes and lists for our family trip to Alaska in August.  I laugh because I, too, am a planner.  That apple did not fall far from the tree. I could tell you about the very elaborate Magic Treehouse birthday or Star Wars party I planned for my boys or the packing list that I try to give them before a trip.  (OK - Luke packs his own things, doesn’t wait for me to check them over, and then gives me an itemized list of what is in each bag.)

The other two beings in my household are not planners.  They grab keys and go.  Luke and I have food, drinks, and layers.  They buy food, take some of our water, and pretend they are not cold when they really are or relent and grab the extra layers I packed for them.

So when he goes to college, I will miss him terribly.  Who else will be my planning buddy?

Lesson learned:  I have taught this kid well to be prepared and to plan thoroughly.  I may have taught him too well because he feels confident enough to not limit himself in what his future holds.  Yay!  Sigh.