[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.