The Senior Week Meeting

Before Baby Boy leaves the nest for college, he’s decided to up my chance of growing an already developing ulcer by attending Senior Week at a raucous beach a couple hours away. Now, I grew up in Florida and attended Senior Week at a “classy” raucous beach down there. It was hot and messy, and I ended up leaving early because people I had known my entire life lost their minds and it wore me out quickly.

My son has fantastic friends, but people do weird things in groups. Herd mentality does not always end well. To help head off potentially damaging behavior, I got all the families of these boys together so we could at least know each other before the week’s adventures. Perhaps all looking each other in the eyes, perhaps instilling a slight touch of fear, would keep everyone in line. It was worth a try. 

Listen, I understand that these boys are right at the cusp of adulthood, and as my son pointed out, I won’t know anything he’s doing just a few short months from now. Thanks, Son. I look forward to many sleepless nights. But I’m not naive. I’m willing to sadly cut the cord. But I also don’t want him arrested. Such a fine line between parenting and letting go.

Hopefully they will reapply sunscreen throughout the day. Hopefully they will look both ways before crossing busy streets. Hopefully they will remember that if the riptide pulls them out, to swim parallel to the shoreline. Hopefully they won’t think jumping into water from balconies/rooflines/bridges is a good idea. Hopefully they will be good boys. At this point, all I can do is hope.