Growing Up

This weekend my son Alex came home for a visit from school. He is enrolled in the Transportation Technology program at Owens Community College in Toledo Ohio. This is his first time away from home, and the trips home every other weekend help keep the homesickness to a minimum.

Not having one iota of knowledge on how to be a Father when he was born, I just sort of went about it the best way I knew how and on more than one occasion fell way short of the goal as he was growing up. But the one thing that remained constant was my hope that when he grew up, he would not make the mistakes I did, and have more good times than bad.

In playing sports Alex has always been exceptional, with soccer being his best. But it doesn't matter if we are shooting hoops in my driveway or ending up at the local bowling alley to have some fun, this kid can just pick up whatever it is and do it great.

When he was turning 16 and the time came to want to drive, he went out and got 2 summer jobs to buy his first car. His full-time job was working in the maintenance department in the Township he lived in, and the second job, which was part-time he bussed tables at a local restaurant. At the end of the summer he was the owner of a 1995 Nissan Sentra SE-R and took great pride that he bought and paid for it on his own. That vehicle served him well, but making the drive from Brimfield to Toledo every other week was starting to take its toll, and it was recently passed on to his brother Kevin, who just turned 16 this summer and will be embarking on his own quest for employment soon to be able to support whatever teenagers these days call important.

So the question at hand was what does a 20 year old college student do when they need a new form of transportation but don't have all the cash to secure said wheels? In addition to going to school, Alex also works for the school in their maintenance department and has enough of an income to pay his rent and have spending money. So during his time home last month, he went to his bank, talked to the loan department and was told that given his income to expense ratio he could get a loan for a vehicle at payments that wouldn't break his bank.

With that knowledge in hand, he quickly went to work to find a vehicle in that price range that he liked. At the end of the search he took a liking to a 1998 Chevy S-10 4X4 ZR-2 pickup. I was a little skeptical given the asking price compared to what I was finding online for similarly equipped vehicles, but to give him credit Alex did a thorough job looking the vehicle over and then negotiating price. Most importantly, he is happy with the purchase and when I had the chance to look the truck over this weekend, I think he did an outstanding job.

As I watched him drive away from my place Sunday night, I thought to myself "20 years old, away in college, working at the same time and just took on his first installment loan". I know I wasn't at that point 22 years ago, so I guess in wanting your child to do better than you did in life, so far that boy is above the bar.

As you can see from the picture, I took it while it was raining and I'm sure those were raindrops on my face as I walked back to my house.