It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since this photo was taken. In it, Jake was about to fly off to Israel for four months. I was more excited for him than worried about being away from him for a semester.
It was good training because in less than three months, he will be off to China for 5 days to visit his family there. It will be his first time in the Middle Kingdom–ever–and the first time his grandparents will have seen him in 17 years.
Part of parenting is learning how to let our kids go out into the world. I think I’ve done a fairly good job of that so far, but there’s something more permanent about college compared to a semester abroad in high school or a summer trip to China.
Luckily, New York isn’t too far from Chicago, so when Jake starts college at NYU this fall, I’ll only be a 2-hour plane ride away. It’s not like I’ll be one of those parents who shows up every weekend. I’m not that nuts. But I can picture taking a long weekend in New York (I’m lucky my brother and some good friends live there) and phoning Jake from a cafe in SoHo or a dim sum place in Chinatown and asking if he wants to meet for a bite to eat.
Today is the first day of summer vacation and I have a feeling it will fly by since we have so much to do before taking Jake to NYU later this summer.
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