Proud Dad

This weekend is a special one to me for a couple of very different reasons.
Today my father celebrates his 80th birthday although knowing him it’s more like observing the occasion then celebrating. A man who has certainly experienced life’s “ups and downs” he is a survivor which says as much about his generation than anything else. His happiness is derived more with how his children and grandchildren are doing and his sadness is that most of his best friends have passed on and he no longer has them to share stories with. Fortunately we still have him….or should I say he has us to tell those stories too. Happy Birthday Dad.

This weekend will find us away to celebrate a major milestone in the life our son Brandon as he graduates from Penn State University. Like it or not I’m going to talk about the event itself on Monday because it is one that has great significance as it’s the end of one stage in a young person’s life and the beginning of another. My wife and I witnessed great changes in our son from the boy who graduated high school in 2004 to the young man who finished college four years later. Those changes were all positive…not that there weren’t bumps in the road because there were. However they were minor and I know there will not be two prouder parents in State College this weekend than us. Of course the scene we will witness this weekend is one that will has been or will be experienced by many of you and no doubt you’ll say and feel many of the same emotions. I toast all the parents of this year’s college graduates for a job well down.