It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

First, my apologies to Charles Dickens.

I volunteer with the youth group at my church, and have for a little over 2 years. I work with the high school age group along with a paid staff member. Over the last 2 years, I've developed a great relationship with one of the guys in the group. He graduated last May, and is leaving on Friday to go to college in New York. He came by at the very end of the youth group meeting tonight to say goodbye. It was great to see him again, as he has been busy over the summer and I hadn't gotten many chances to talk to him. He, his girlfriend (who is staying behind), the staff member and myself went to a local restaurant to just hang out for a little while and enjoy each other's company one more time before he leaves. It was great to see him one last time.

I don't have any children of my own, and probably won't, but I can only imagine how much harder it must be for a parent to see their child go off to college. On one hand it's great that he's starting this new phase of his life. He got into a really great school for what he wants to study and I think he'll do very well. I'm so proud of him. On the other hand, it's sad that he won't be coming by every Wednesday night. He will definitely be missed.

After coming home and working on my side project for a bit I decided to log into the email account tied to this blog. I don't check it much since I've never really had any readers. Well, a very pleasant surprise was waiting for me in my mailbox. I received an email message from the author of another blog I had left a comment on and that author had come by and read some of my entries. My first reader! I shall celebrate by publishing this post and going to bed.