Life Lessons From an 18 Year Old

[M.D. Holloway]

When my Son turned 18 he wanted to visit a casino to try his hand at Texas Hold'm. So when he turned 18 I took him. Going in he had visions of making hundreds, seeing beautiful people, and playing psychological hands. In less then 20 minutes he lost all his money he brought, saw only folks that may not have been able to afford next months rent and didn't spend enough time flossing or focusing on carbohydrate intake, and they couldn't care less how he bet. On the ride home we talked about expectations and reality.

As a gift for turning 18, we got him 4 laps in a Lamborghini Gallardo. He always loved those Italians so when we gave him the certificate he was pretty pumped. Each lap he went progressively faster and at the end his driver showed his times against the others and his was the quickest. On the Go-Pro dash-cam I can hear his instructor getting a bit nervous during the final lap but afterwards the instructor was impressed. On the walk back to our car, my Son thanked me for the experience but when I pressed him about his impression he finally told me that while he was very grateful, he really wasn't as impressed with the car compared to the way he expected it to perform. Again, expectations v. reality.

Several weeks ago he started a dating a girl his age. I never met her but apparently they get along fine. No drama compared to others girls he has dated. He is not one for drama and really shuts it down quickly. Last week I asked him how things were going with her. He said he had not heard from her in 4 days. Now those 2 had been seeing each other daily for a few weeks. So I asked what was up and he said they broke up. I asked if they got in a fight or something and he told me they didn't. I asked him what was up then. Now normally I don't think it is good for parents to make a deal about these things but I was curious. He said that they had an agreement when they first started dating that if one wasn't interested in continuing on in the relationship that they should walk away, to cut all contact and move on with out looking back. I asked him more about it and he said that if one isn't into it anymore then there is nothing the other can do or say to fix it so its best to move on, drama free. They both agreed on it going into it.

Wow. Interesting.

[M.D. Holloway]

I think he is just fine - this past weekend he took second place overall during the Texas Eastern Regionals for Sporting Clays...

[Dantilla]

What a smart kid!

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

In less then 20 minutes he lost all his money he brought.............On the ride home we talked about expectations and reality.

Nice work, Mike.

I remember in the 60's at Cedar Point, my Dad coughed up two dollars for me to try two times to shoot, with an air powered BB machine gun, all of the red star out of a white sheet of paper.

I failed. Shreds of red on the perimeter.

Wish we could have had that same talk. I felt bad for "pissing that money away".

[scottmandue]

As an old timer to Las Vegas let me say you are very lucky (pardon the pun) that your son lost in the casino. We would make many weekend road trips to Vegas when I was a pup... nothing worse than a newbie winning on there first trip to the casino... they get hooked and keep going back... eventually lose their gaming money... then start digging into the savings to try to "get it back".

You have done a great job with your son!