Good time, good time

I had a great time this week at a College Fair at my son's high school. To be honest, I really wasn't looking forward to going. It had been a long day and after supper, I would have loved to just flop on the couch with the clicker for the rest of the night. But, I went. My wife was working and she said "You need to go with him." So, I sucked it up and did the dad duty thing. Looking back on it....I'm really glad I did.

We arrived just after it started and picked up the map of the fair. It showed which schools were located where inside the gym. My son, Doug, had done some prep work and he had an idea of who he wanted to talk to. So I found them on the map and we began. Doug wants to be a firefighter. He always has. You now how every little boy , at one time or another, wants to be a fire fighter., Doug never outgrew it. And, with my wife being a paramedic, the conversation at the dinner time is often about trauma and the latest accident in the news.

We wandered through the College Fair talking to schools that offered Fire Science and Engineering. When I thought we were done, Doug said he just wanted to walk around a little more. We started to talk to schools that also offered communications and theater. Those are two of his other interests. Then there was also discussion about college sports. Doug plays football, runs track but really loves baseball. Some of the reps even gave him the coaches phone numbers to learn more about what the coach expects.

In the end we spent time with spokespeople for the University of New Haven, Mass Maritime, Bristol Community College, Becker, Barry College (Miami---good baseball, great weather)and the University of Hawaii. (We had to! Doug's thinking of minoring in bikinis. What can I say.)

It's been a couple of days since we went and I think I finally figured out why I had such a good time. It was fun to spend time with Doug , just the two of us. But I also realized it was two hours that I spent in a room filled with hope! Hope and dreams! With all the bad news and economic fear, that was a welcome change. Sure, a lot of those kids may ever end up at those schools, we may not be able to afford these schools. But for a few hours, there was hope and excitement!