Bittersweet Lunch

My Son and That Special Girl

I just got back from having lunch with my son.  He works in an office about twenty minutes from where I work.  We made the effort to get together because he leaves on his big adventure on Friday.  He is taking over as lead engineer on a major construction project in Central Asia.  I could not possibly be more proud of him.  I often compare him to where I was at the same age he is now.  I usually find myself coming up extremely short.  He thrives on the increased responsibility.  He takes such a measured approach to everything, researches all options, and carefully considers where he wants to go – a real engineer.  In that respect he could not be more different that I am.  In most of the important aspects he is very like me.  I enjoyed the lunch immensely because I think we both understood that this would be our last face to face conversation for several months.  He made a real effort to catch me up on everything that was happening.  He certainly seems to have found the girl (young lady) of his dreams.  I like the fact that she sees the real guy – the real person that he is.  He has always been very guarded in letting girlfriends inside to see the real him.  I really like that he lights up when he talks about her.  He still tries to be “cool” but I can see how much she’s touched his soul.  As we were leaving I stayed in the car and watched him drive out, trying to capture every glimpse of him that I could.  I kicked myself because I did not realize what an easy drive from my work this was and why hadn’t I done more of it when he was working so close.  I think I understand now how much my departures affected my family when I was in the military.  I was deployed repeatedly and often for months at a time.  I was usually focused on the job, as my son is now, and took scant time to consider how tough it was on the wife and kids.  Luckily my son is a better man and I truly loved the time we spent together this afternoon.  It was so tough watching him drive away.