Sometimes, when Dylan would be in my thoughts, I would stop by his room. I would sit in his desk chair and visit with him. Ask him how things were going.

We might compare our likes/dislikes of Windows 8, as I would click around on his desktop computer. He built that computer himself. He got really good grades. One year, I told him that if he finished the year with straight A’s, I would buy him the parts for a computer and I would walk him through building it. I think he enjoyed it and learned something about the parts of a computer. When we went to buy a case, he wanted this big bulky one, because it looked cool. That thing was huge. It barely fit in his desk cubby. I pushed back a little, but in the end it was his choice. At various times in these discussions, we would talk about the feasibility of upgrading it, which never happened.

We would talk about school, life, music, gaming, etc. Sometimes, I would pass on a life lesson in hopes that he would learn from my mistakes. Which has seemed more like a life lesson for me. I learned that my children would make their own mistakes, and then would hopefully learn the very same lessons that I have tried to pass on to them. I have learned that many of life’s lessons seemingly must be learned first hand.

Dylan has been my thoughts more than usual the last few days. I would really like to stop by his room and visit with him.