Fixed it for ya....

Good for your daughter. If she ever needs anything local let me know. I'll PM my cell.

Thank you. Although she's only a couple of hours away, it can seem like a lifetime in an emergency / crises.

We just dropped our son off yesterday (freshman at Ohio State). A little emotional, more so for my wife than me. I can already see that I'm going to be a mess when our daughter (now a junior in HS) goes....She's our baby and she and I have a different bond than I have w/ my son.

It's all good though, life is series of stages and we need to enjoy all of them as much as we can.

Congrats to you and your daughter....

Saturday was very bittersweet for my wife and I, as it no doubt was for all that have gone through it. Great job raising your children.

Jack is on the left:

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A930Rocket, sounds like you have done a superb job raising an appreciative child. Now it's time for her to really be tested with all this independence. I'm sure she will do fine but you still worry. That's what good parenting is all about.

So have you heard how he is enjoying his first week as a "rat"? A memory he will carry forever.

Congratulations Rocket, sounds like you have raised a great kid and should be very proud. When I graduated high school, my graduation present was a suitcase (no lie). They did everything but move on me, leaving no forwarding address. :)

We do this in a couple weeks. Bryce (20) is heading to Bond University - Australia to study Int'l Business. Wife and I are fine right now...but our 18 yr old daughter is dreading it. They've always gotten along well and according to her they look out for each other at parties (I LIKE THAT!!!). He leaves Sept 1...so we're going to get 1 last dove hunt together before he splits. Plans to meet in Fiji for Xmas.

Good to see.

this wont suck!!

great thread guys..makes me almost want to have a kid or two....(almost)

He is still not able to communicate with us...six more days! The Matriculation ceremony was very moving. Very quiet ride home from Lexington.

Rocket, thanks for this thread. USC is a great school and Columbia is a good city to be young in:cool:

Made the trip down to Texas Tech taking our daughter 12 years ago. One of those moments and days I'll remember from now on. We all shed some tears that day. She was a daddies girl from the get go. I started keeping her on my days off 2 weeks after she was born. Working shift I had my fair share of time off so we did everything together. As an avid runner she started going to the track with me when she could barely walk while I did track intervals. When she could barely talk she would tell me "I running fast Daddy", and that became one of the ties that binds us to this day. That, the Porsches, music, vacations, running on beaches from many vacations and cruises. She was the gear-head of our two kids. A true speed freak. Her first car at 16 was a Trans Am. Not a great car for an art major in college always having to haul projects but she liked that car. Kept it ten years put 100,000 mostly trouble free miles on it and sold it for 10K 6 years ago.

Because it was only 180 miles away she could come home on weekends if she wanted to and we encouraged it. This was pre text days so we e-mailed and talked a lot on the phone those first couple of years. She got great grades in school, taught art at an inner city school and was named teacher of the year the four years she was there. Is married to a childhood sweetheart who is a doctor and will someday inherit the 930. She had a contentious relationship with my wife through high school and the first year of college but they are now best friends. She has a daughter 2 that is her carbon copy so it is fun to spoil our granddaughter rotten. Who by the way loves Porsches too.

As someone stated care packages are always appreciated. We went down for football games, concerts, anything to get us together when it was possible. Great times.

Okay Rocket u did well. She sprouted wings , worked hard and I really don't think u have too much to worry about. 2 hours away is not too far away. She has acquired good values from her parents and I am sure she will do just fine. Fortunately our daughter is at Univ. in the same city as us. Lives with her boyfriend and is in the Masters/Phd program . I asked her the other day why she left home. She said we were both too uptight!. Perhaps we are. But she did sprout wings. Conversely there are two boys within a block of us that never left home. Hugely disfunctional. Pardon my English, you did good:):):)

My daughters will be heading to their 2nd and 3rd years at SU and SCU. Just to add to the alphabet confusion. Santa Clara and Seattle.
Always a big transition when they leave.
They seem to take the whole house with them, so if they are homesick it must be for me! There is a good chance that this will be the last summer the oldest will be home.

Leaving the letter was a very nice thing to do. Many kids create enough problems before they leave that animosity helps with the separation.

Rejoice in your great good fortune.

It is the rare man who learns (early enough in his life to make a difference), that "family" is ALL there really is to life.

That and in some cases it actually works out good.

In many cases, life is hard, cold and mean. MOST men live lives of quiet desperation.

Count your lucky stars...

My step daughter is going off to college in about a month...

My wife is the sweetest most loving most giving woman on the planet (I'm baized)

I understand with the daughter is is an age thing, heck I treated my dad like crap when I was 18 (within reason).

But she treats her mom like dog poo... mono syllabic answers and everything mom says is wrong.

Yeah we get it... she divorced your dad... happens a lot... but you have never wanted for food, shelter, clothing, education... when three quarters of the world population go without.

But I'm not bitter

Rant over... sorry for the hijack.

Good job Rocket!

Rocket - that's awesome - a true testament to your dad abilities. Paul - VMI is a great school - I was a RAT at NMMI years ago - definitely a learning/growing up moment for me.

We flew across the country to drop our daughter at the Naval Academy in late june for Plebe Summer. No real tears at that time I guess because we knew we see her in six weeks. Last weekend was the end of Plebe summer and we flew back for Plebe Parent Weekend. At the end of the three day visit - that's when the water works started.

She did quite well, so I guess we just realized how permanent it was. She has two years before she has to commit, but she seems to love it.

Both daughters are in college out of CA - perhaps they're trying to tell me something :)
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1) Carolina = USCe ------ California = USCw (this should eliminate any more confusion)

2) Gamecocks got one of the greatest football coaches ever...S.O.S. aka Coach Steve Spurrier!

This is from last year when a writer lied about the old ball coach....

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3) Ahh.....Gamecock football.....wouldn't be the same without the Sandstorm anthem:

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4) My dad was an employment counselor in Virgina in the 60's after he retired from the Navy and I remember at the dinner table on several occasions he had mentioned he thought a pharmacist would be a great job - and one could "own their own drugstore" one day! Food for thought!

4) Lastly.....like Paul said.....thanks for the thread......always nice to hear of a family with old school values. Your daughter is destined for greatness! ;)