Dear Carol,

I too know what you are going through. Even though I am just a "lowly" father, I miss my son. But I miss him, even when he is home. He is attending college just an hour away at the University of Pitt on an academic scholarship. He is now home and is my best bud... but, he's no longer my boy. He's a man. Yes, he's my son and a loving one indeed, but I miss the little boy who used to ride on my shoulders. Would go for a ride with anywhere - just for company. Fished with me, hunted and played ball. The little boy who would stand at the front door with a bat in his hand and watch for my car to come down the street. We would play in the yard until it was too dark to see. As he grew, he changed but our bond remained strong. As college approached, he was heavily recruited by many fine institutions, because as you see he was an exceptional student graduating 2nd in a class of 400, with unbelievable college tests scores (1500 SAT's for Americans) but he was also an exceptionally talented athlete - a baseball player to be exact.

It broke my heart to see that he had decided that his baseball days were through as he pursued his academic future. It was hard for me to remain silent and allow him to make this very personal decision, as I knew that this was "his time" and "his decision" to make. When he finally decided to accept Pitt's academic scholarship, he told me quite appropriately, "my future is not on a baseball field", it's in the academic arena.

You see, I had the sobering realization that my son was totally making the right decision and that he was now a man... and that he was going to be making most if not all of his decisions from this point on.

I MISS MY BOY!!!