[With one son in college and another about to be, Spring Break is a lot more than just a concept or a professional reality for this AmericanStudier. So this week I’ve AmericanStudied a handful of cinematic portrayals of Spring Break, leading up to these weekend reflections on being a college Dad!]
On three
of the countless moments across this year (to date) that I’ve been pleasantly
reminded of my changed circumstances (I’ll spare y’all the sadder reminders).
1)
Stadium Spotting: As I’ve
mentioned here a couple times, my older son is a first-year at Vanderbilt,
where he’s been having a truly phenomenal time on all counts. One of the most
unexpected and delightful of those counts was the football team’s surprisingly
successful season, which included a truly historic
upset win over Alabama. My son was able to be in the student section for
that win and most every other of their home games this year, which led to a new
favorite pastime for his brother and me: seeing if we could find him amidst the
student section hordes when they were shown on the TV broadcasts. I can’t lie,
my son’s younger eyes were much better at that game than his Dad’s, but we both
did eventually manage to spot him each and every time—and for a Dad missing his
son acutely, those were certainly moving moments indeed.
2)
Professorial Props: My son is a Civil
Engineering Major, so many of his classes during this first year have been
quite different from any that I teach (or took back in the day). But as part of
his Fall semester, he did take a Literature and the Environment course that was
one of his favorites of the year (I genuinely believe that’s the case, biased
as I might also be), and indeed has helped convince him to add an Environmental
Studies Minor. Moreover, the class even taught his AmericanStudying Dad a thing
or two, including introducing me to a contemporary indigenous poet I had never
previously know about (Tommy
Pico). So once the semester was done and grades were in and there was hopefully
no danger of being perceived as one of “those parents,” I shot the professor a quick
note to let her know how much both my son and I had enjoyed this class (she was
as appreciative as I would have been to get such a note). Felt very much like
multiple layers of my identity connecting at once in the best possible ways.
3)
Country Concert: I hope it goes without
saying, for a young person embarking on their college career in Nashville, that
my son has gotten to lots of concerts this year. But I can’t lie, I’m most
excited about a concert that’s coming up in just over a month—thanks to my wife
and me (mainly her, as it was her awesome idea), his brother will be flying
down for the weekend and the two of them will be seeing one of our recent favs,
the great Kane
Brown, perform in the city in which he and my son both live. I’m not ready
to say goodbye to my younger son yet (or, well, ever), but if this is going to
be a preview of a world in which they both are in college, then it might as
well be such a fun preview!
Next
series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What
do you think, fellow college parents and all?
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