My eldest just let me know he's entering an MBA program after the first of the year. In and of itself, that's not a huge thing among this group, however, he already has completed an undergrand degree in both a BS in Electrical Engineering this last spring and a BS in Physics previously. He's already doing wonderfully in a very large engineering consulting company, with the addition of the MBA to his already strong knowledge base I see a very bright future. The company he works for will pay for the MBA so long as he stays at the company for at least 2 years after he attains it. As they have branches all over the country, that should be doable.

While all of that is wonderful, what I'm proud of isn't the knowledge he's gained but rather a few other achievements.

1. He's come to understand that sometimes, you just have to do whatever it takes to get the job done. If that means pulling an all nighter, so be it.
2. He no longer has any delusions of the world being fair and it bothers him little when it's not toward him, he still pushes for it for others. He understands that his success ultimately is dependent upon himself, not the world around him.
3. He's found an intellectual equal who is also an extremely hard worker, accomplished academically, athletically, and quickly becoming so professionally, in her mind failure is never an option Probably part of her upbringing in Russia....and he married her. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with an undergrad in Accountancy and earned her Masters in the same in one additional year.

These two are dangerous together....in a good way.

It appears that you raised a fine son; job well done! Let the happiness ensue.


Thank you for sharing this happy and inspiring news.

Our city runs a community youth choir that has a national reputation, or rather the middle school and high school sections do, both of which recruit strictly by audition only. DD9 is in the free for all pre-choir for 6 to 10 yo, and doesn’t like to sing at home, so since she hasn’t had to audition for anything yet, I had no idea whether she was any good or not, but she likes going, and her best friend goes, so.

The other day I came in a bit early to pick her up. The director is fine with the parents sitting in on any part of the rehearsal in the back of the auditorium as long as they move quietly, so I simply walked in, with my eyes on my phone. I look up, and there is my shy little DD9, who has a hard time speaking up for something like ordering ice cream, up on the stage by herself, singing 6 or 7 verses of her absolutely favourite song ever, “Far over the Misty Mountains cold” from the hobbit movie, for something like 30 kids and as many parents, clear as a bell and pitch perfect. You could have heard a pin drop. (Did you even know there are something like 10 verses? They are not in the movie, but apparently they’re on YouTube).

I was melting into a puddle. I wish I could have taken a video for DH, but I couldn’t get it together in time.

That is absolutely heart-melting, tigerle! And it gives you a glimpse of the future when her confidence will have come to the surface.

Aeh, I PMed you.

I never write in here because our stuff seems so mundane in this online environment (one of the things I like about it) but I really liked this one.

At DS(now)6's school, parents come in and read on their child's birthday. It's normal selection of kid's stories. DS6 asked his mom to come in and read the 2020 National Geographic Almanac entry on the Big Bang and the Milky Way. He kept interrupting the reading to try and teach his classmates stuff. Then since there was time left in the session, he decided he would read to his class instead of having his mom do it.

For something more "brag" worthy, last year he beat my wife in chess. He knows the game better than her so he kept giving her advice that let him take her pieces. She caught on but by then she had dropped enough material that he could win on his own.

The winning isn't special, she's new to the game. I just love that he worked on tricking her and was subtle enough that he wasn't caught immediately.

Both stories are extremely adorable! I'm sure his mom knows she has many, many more years of this to look forward to.

Thanks aeh! She knows and she's always joking that she has to stay on her toes with him, while she can sleepwalk and deal with me, lol.

DD was invited to attend the Technovation Challenge world summit. It was suppose to be all week at MIT but now virtual Thurs and Fri. She was a semifinalist in Canada.

Congrats to her! That sounds like a very cool opportunity! I hope she enjoys it. What a bummer it ended up virtual, but happy they were able to offer a flexible solution. Our kids are going to be masters of flexibility and re-imagining things!