Now What?! Golden boy

The word ‘gold’ represents the pinnacle or the best. Couples celebrate their golden wedding anniversary after 50 years of marriage. You arrive at your golden years when you have lived the majority of your life. When you are in the sweet spot of a situation, people say, ‘You are golden.’How many folks know about the golden birthday? It is a term for when we turn the same age as the day of our birthday. For example, my birthday is on the 26th, so my 26th birthday would have been my golden birthday. This year happened to be the golden birthday of my golden boy.My son turns 22 this year, and his birthday is on the 22nd. It seems appropriate that it falls at this season in his life. I visited him last weekend as he rounds the bases toward home in his college career. Although pesky classes seem to get in the way of his college experience, he is living his best life. His independence grows stronger with each passing day, and I am in awe of his ease of navigation.

I am not implying that at 22 years old, he has all the answers to the questions he’ll be facing in the coming months. I am saying that the lack of answers has not hindered his determination to move forward.  He and his peers talk to each other about job applications, graduate school plans, and whether they will move home or somewhere else.

Some are scared and some are excited about the challenge, but they all move forward. I have to admit part of the reason I am so impressed by their approach is that there have been several times in my life when I was not brave enough to push through the fear. Divorce helped remove the option of giving in to the fear, but that is a story for another day.When I was 22, I was a young newlywed who didn’t have to have all the answers. My plans were made with someone else, and we talked through all those things together: living in the same town where we both grew up, going to high school, going to college, getting married, and starting life. We were surrounded by security.My son has made a little life for himself in his small college town and has taken the time to explore. It isn’t lost on me that college doesn’t represent the independence of the real world, but in many ways, it is pretty dang close. Although (God willing), my golden boy will have more amazing stages of his life, like a thriving career, home ownership, a meaningful life partnership, and hopefully fatherhood.But for right now, life is good down in Davidson, North Carolina. Every now and then, I send him a random message to stop and take a moment to absorb all that he has accomplished.During my visit, I mentioned to him that he walks around his campus with purpose, to get from point A to point B. I subsequently encouraged him to stop and look around at this beautiful campus and be present. The classroom will still be there and the assignments backfill as quickly as they are finished, but time does not stand still.I encourage us all to pause and take inventory of where we are. Not everyone is living their best life like my boy, but sometimes it is easy to miss our golden age by moving too quickly from point A to point B.