So April 19th 2006 was my son's 18th birthday. I am still figuring out how I feel about that. On the one hand I am very proud of my son. He has grown into a fine, dependable young man who has integrity. That is a fine thing. But, on the other hand, my little boy isn't a little boy anymore. I am not going to get all maudlin or anything thing about that (I do that in my head quite enough thank you) but it does take a bit of getting used to.

I had a manager years ago who was different from any other manager and he taught me some interesting things. He trained people so that they could move on to better things. He took in new workers and trained them to do the job the best they could. And when the District Manager would come along and want them to be Managers in other stores he was happy to send them off. Most managers I have known get ticked to train someone only to have them move on, but Peter said that that was the natural way of it. You couldn't expect someone to get good and then stay in a lower job.

Kids are like that too. We have them and grow them. They start out completely dependant on us for every little part of their life, then gradually they start to learn from us, then they figure somethings out on their own, and before you know it they are ready to move on to bigger things than being our kids.

Of course they will always be our kids, but still they have things to do and learn that are completely seperate from us. And that is a good thing. Its tough sometimes, but its good.

My son is always my son, but today is he more a man then he was yesterday.