<p>Alumother, that makes me feel a little better that my S is taking his poll sci degree and going to culinary school. Congratulations on your son’s job offer, shellfell. It’s good to start somewhere, and it’s also nice that they respect his work enough to hire him and are willing to support his continuing job search.</p>
<p>An update: My S has been working at a country club in his college town since school started in mid-August and has been promoted from dishwasher to line-cook-in-training because the manager said he didn’t want to waste a hard-core foodie as a dishwasher. We visited him this weekend, and we noticed one of those growth spurts that we’ve periodically seen in him. He is thriving–working hard, managing a busy class/study schedule, and making money. (He has not had a job at school until now.) He has time for class, studying, and work–period. He doesn’t work on Saturdays and Sundays, so he does have a social life, but he reserves Sundays as one of his study/laundry/shopping days. I have never, ever seen him this organized. In short, he’s very happy, and I think this might really be his calling–at least until he finds the next one. We’re getting used to the idea. His plan is to stay after graduation in mid-May and work for six weeks until their lease ends, then come home and get a job for a while before applying to the Culinary Institute. Happy AND has a plan–we can’t ask for more. He will also stay at school for part of winter break to work.</p>
<p>Flying home, it came over me that I’m ready to redecorate his room. After he went to college, I put stuff away in the closet. But the room desperately needs painting and some furniture changes so it can be a decent guest room and so he won’t be living in an exact replica of his high school room. For some weird reason this was a big step for me. We didn’t keep his room as a shrine, but we wanted him to come home to a familiar nest. Now he’s given the okay–after I assured him that I’m not doing this because I think he’s moving in permanently!</p>
<p>geezermom, it’s so nice when we see our children beginning to make their way, especially when they’re doing something they enjoy. How nice for your son that they could see his passion for food/cooking and rewarded him for that.</p>
<p>geezermom, I am eager to see how your S makes out, since I also have a '14 polisci/IR guy who seriously loves cooking! </p>
<p>My '12 S just called to say he got an offer from his first choice employer. Is very happy. Now we wait to see if grad school is still in the mix for next fall, or if he will take this opportunity, get financially stabilized and head to grad school in a couple of years.</p>
<p>Hey, Geezermom - if you succeed in “letting go,” let me know your secret. I need some pointers. My D has a job lined up post-graduation, and I’m good with that, but sometimes I worry about her anyway, especially social-life-wise.</p>
<p>My H claims that I’m only happy when I’m worrying.</p>
<p>Do we ever stop worrying? S is starting to look for an apartment/roommate situation & it’s tough for me to deal with being 350 miles away. S will only look at places that sound perfect in the ad. DH has to keep reminding us both that whatever choice he makes is not forever.</p>
<p>Believe me, I’m no expert! I give myself credit for teeny tiny baby steps in the letting go department. My parents didn’t do a great job of letting us separate. To give my S some perspective on how wonderful I am, I told him what my dad said when I found my first apartment right after college graduation: “You’re moving out already?” Talk about raining on my parade.</p>
<p>D1 passed her CBEST. The CBEST is the test required to be admitted to teaching credential programs in California. I don’t think it is that difficult, but nice to check one more thing off the list. I think she will apply to 2 programs, one at her current school and one close to home. She should easily be accepted to both since her GPA is way above the required 3.0. S2, college class of '14, seems to be settling on a major after a bit of a rocky start last year. S3 is a junior in high school so we are starting the cycle all over again with him. All three kids are very different so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. I feel like I have a good grasp on the whole college application process, but am toying with the idea of hiring an academic consultant (something I did not do with the other two) for help with the essays, which was the hardest part for them. It would be more to relieve my stress than anything else. That has kind of been the way life has worked with the 3 kids. The first two had group swimming lessons in the cold as ice pool at the local junior college, whereas, S3 had private lessons in a 93 degree pool. Kind of a live and learn type of thing.</p>
<p>tx5, I was just having that conversation with older D, how she was the guinea pig as the first born, and how I know so much more with the junior D. I have also been toying with essay help for this child, who is 3rd and last, but who wants highly selective schools.</p>
<p>CountingDown - Congrats on S’12’s job offer. Geez, wasn’t he just looking at colleges? My D’12 isn’t sure what she wants to pursue after graduation, but grad school is definitely not in the picture right now. The only thing she is certain of is that she’s planning to stay on the opposite coast. She feels a little guilty, but I told her now’s the time to be adventurous. Besides, it will gives me an excuse to get out of my rocking chair and go visit her.</p>
<p>Congrats to Geezermom and CountingDown. There are so many paths to happy, so many paths to a satisfying career. Let’s hear it for these two sons of 2012!</p>
<p>My DS has 2 upcoming job interviews-- Friday and Monday. He said his suit is at the cleaners. I reminded him that when older s sent his suit to the cleaners before some event his senior year (don’t reall if it was job interviews or what), when he returned after the weekend to get his suit, he discovered that the cleaners had gone out of business over the weekend!! :eek: No joke!! He somehow managed to get someone in a nearby store to call someone who knew someone who could get the owner to open the place and give DS his suit back! I remember that like it was yesterday!</p>
<p>^^^jym, that is so far off my planet. S1 asked if it was OK to wear a kilt to job fairs. :eek: BTW, he DOES have a suit, and he looks great in it.</p>
<p>My S has taken a new interest in his wardrobe during college. Now he says that the good news about working in a kitchen is that his whole work wardrobe will cost less than $100. He’s always had great disdain for clogs and crocs, and I’m betting that will change.</p>