Sometimes parenting is like being initiated into the mysteries of the universe. Not just birthing babies and late night feedings and the still that happens for the ten minutes a day that the little stinkers are asleep and you're awake. Life's mysteries are more ongoing than babies.
My eldest has been accepted into two colleges, one very Reformed Protestant and one very Roman Catholic. Okay, that's only funny if you're an Anglican. I know. For the rest of the Christian world, its just weird.
We talked this morning about how Reformed Protestant College (henceforth referred to as RPC) has mandatory chapel. I have mixed feelings about mandatory chapel and I wondered if he did, too. On the one hand, chapel is good! On the other hand, nobody should be required to worship, it should be a freewill offering. And making chapel mandatory means that the college tends not to be very diverse, not outside your particular brand of Christianity.
As I said this, my teen replied, "but we're Anglicans, we blend in."
I answered, "We blend in like a drunk chameleon shouting "you don't see me! you don't see me! Oh wait, you hear me... um, hi!" We blend in so that we're almost unnoticeable in a Catholic setting, until we start knocking over the furniture. And the Protestants will happily have us over for social outings, until we put on our liturgical lampshades and become a little unruly.
Needless to say, my teen thought that was hysterical. Because I am seriously funny. Or because it was very very inhumanely early in the morning and we were both a little loopy.
Anyway, he's off today and tonight at RPC taking it for a test drive. He texted that he's having fun (yay). He'll be doing the same at the Roman Catholic College (RCC, of course) later this month. He has to decide on which side of the fence his undergraduate education will fall, no doubt based on such teen priority as where are the people friendliest, the proximity of tasty food (RPC has the ticket there), and what the classes are like (at least the math classes, he cares nothing about the rest of his education, best I can tell.)
But here's the mystery I've discovered. College test drives are not just for the kids to see what the next four years could be like (if you choose door number one....). They are also for the parents to remind ourselves, at this tender point in our development, our parental growing up, that they can survive on their own. College test drives give us the chance to test drive what it is like to have a kid somewhat out on his own. While they test drive adulthood, we test drive, well old-adulthood.
And he's having fun. Cool. Maybe this mom can grow up.
Or at least let him grow up.... maybe.
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