Well, I get that there are lessons to learn by experience, but the problem is that the stakes can be so high sometimes.

Laura, you have all my sympathies. While my son's travails are not always by choice (he frequently ends up homeless, living in parks and couch surfing [one time his residence burned down and he was out the two months rent he'd paid just the week before with no way to acquire enough funds to find another place, another time having a roommate demand another $100 the day he got his disabiiity check and then attacked him with a baseball bat when he refused]), having to be supportive and suggest options long distance with no real way to help can be soul withering.

Zen, packing is always last moment for me too. Of course I pack from lists so it is quick business. You can't pack until the laundry is done, and there is always stuff that you use that gets packed. Smooth travels!

Well, I get that there are lessons to learn by experience, but the problem is that the stakes can be so high sometimes.

Indeed. DH and I were talking about it last night (like there is a night we don't!) and he is more devastated than me. He always thinks it is somehow his fault. I don't let him get away with that one. Anyway, #1 is trying to prove something to us and the world. He doesn't have to conform to our stupid rules. He's perfectly fine and doesn't count material things as success. @@

I just ran into someone he went to school with last week. Once again, the same exchange. They ask how he is, then make some comment about how brilliant he was. I can think of at least 3 former teachers I have encountered out in stores or wherever that have said he was the smartest student they had, also bullheaded. He has a massive issue with authority because he knows so much more than the rest of us lowly beings. I've told him more than once that he doesn't know shit until he figures out that he doesn't know shit.

He hasn't read Game of Thrones yet, so I from time to time call him Jon Snow. I told him where the character comes from. He will actually find it very amusing when he reads the books. He has an excellent sense of humor. Also, he knows nothing.

coffee:

Oh Sail, I'm sorry to have to share the heartsick mom's couch with you. It is hard to explain, but knowing that somehow he will figure it out and do okay is still a comfort.

Even yesterday, he told me he still wants to go north with me. So I'll have a couple months to gently guide and present alternatives.

eta: the cynic in me feels that the reason he will stay with me for the summer in Otter Lake is that it is brutally hot in Florida.

Well, even if that is why, it still leaves you an opening.

Nora, much strength~ma for you and your family. Glad to hear your father is doing better. I hope he's stable and out of the ICU soon.

Laura, much strength~ma to you and yours as well. I hope #1 son finds his way.

I heard back from the radiology department: they offered me the job. They said I was welcome to take some time to think about it, so I told them I'd give them my decision on Monday. I'm mostly sure I'm going to take it, but I want to make a list of pros and cons and put some real thought into it before I take the leap of faith.

Awesome!

I saw your news, too, brenda! NYC! I know I'd be tempted, only I don't make the salary to afford living there.

congratulations, Sail!