kids

I just heard from our son, who left Saturday for a two-week study abroad program in Mexico. Getting our son signed up for this program was one of the things this past spring that made me realize that there was something wrong with John. The program is run by the community college where he taught, so he was finding out the details. He worked out the complications of our son taking the placement test, but he missed that there was an application form that had to be submitted.

Very kindly they let our son into the program late. I've been nervous because it is the first thing our son has done where he has been treated like a college student (he is 18 but just finished his junior year of high school), responsible for his own money and medication. He has attention deficit disorder and is not good at keeping track of things. But I heard from him today that except for car sickness on the bus he is having a great time and the family he is staying with is great.

I've told him that he is going to need to grow up quicker now because of John's illness, and that he is no longer the most forgetful one in the family. This trip going well feels like a hopeful sign that he is ready for those challenges.

I pick our daughter up this evening from a trip to see a school friend. It will be good to have her home again. She is younger but she is the resonsible one--I was glad she could get away just to have fun as well as the summer course at Duke she goes to next week.