Kind of hard to believe. It seems like it was not that long ago that my wife, Betsy, and I moved all of our stuff—and our two-week old son, Benjamin—from Birmingham, Alabama, to Asheville to open my dental practice. Fresh from dental school graduation, I was ready to take on the world…or at least, Asheville.
This weekend, Benjamin—he’s Ben, now—will graduate from high school. Then, after a much-too-quick fun-filled summer, he’s off to NC State University’s School of Engineering…ready to take on the world.
Along the way, he has gained an impressive amount of fluency in Spanish, shown a facility with math (he got that from his mom), had the opportunity to travel vast swaths of our great country and abroad, and has become quite a good tennis player. And through all of the previous almost-18 years, I have been privy to watch my son develop and exhibit a sense of calmness and fairness in his interaction with the world that has made me very proud. All in all, it’s been a pretty darn good ride, so far.
And so, from one proud father to his son: Well done, Ben, well done.