Welcome to the Real World

Summer for me is always a time of transition and recharging. My teaching and campus ministry duties are given a small break, and I am able to plan for the upcoming academic year. It also brings changes and growth for our graduating students and our own children as they venture onto new challenges with careers, new schools, and life.

This month my own three children have experienced transitions in their lives. As a mom, I guess that means I have too! My 22-year-old daughter, Nan, having embarked on a new post grad career, has moved into a new house in the Fan district in Richmond, VA. Just finding an affordable place, renting an U-Haul truck four times, coordinating with her two roommates and landlord on a move-in date, and having their home pass required needed inspections for occupancy posed ridiculous challenges. Her new consulting job is piece of cake by comparison! Forget the business degree she acquired; her life skills and negotiating talents were definitely put to good use. College certainly helped her to navigate the everyday grind of life’s happenings. Welcome to the real world!

My youngest, Mac, graduated from E.C. Glass High School on June 7th. After being told countless times over his 19 years that he would probably never go to college due to his learning disabilities, he beat the odds and will attend Longwood University in the fall. He worked hard, had incredible support from teachers, utilized his resources and learned to never give up – a skill I think we should strive to share with both our kids at home and our students at LC.

I just returned yesterday from an apartment-hunting trip to Charlotte, NC where my oldest son, Bob, 24, will be moving next month. After teaching in Thailand for a year and working back in Lynchburg for six months, he accepted a job in a sales training program. I thought he might not ever leave home! He was not sure of what he wanted to “do with his life,” but we assured him nothing has to be permanent, but taking chances and risks and putting himself out there is what life is all about! On to new adventures!

While wanting to “take care” of every difficulty that might arise with my kids, I realize that each one is capable of reaching his or her own destiny alone, in time, with the love and encouragement given by so many. I only need to believe in each of them. That’s what I love so much about our LC community. We nourish, challenge, encourage, step aside when needed, allow for failures, applaud successes and meet each student where he or she is when arriving on campus in August. We walk with them on their journeys just as parents do with their children.

I am reminded of a Buddhist proverb that says, “If you light a light for someone, it will brighten your own path.” Thank you, Lynchburg College, for helping me to be a better parent to my own three children and to the countless students with whom I have been privileged to serve.

by Kaky Bowden
Pastoral Associate and Catholic Campus Minister