<p>Most people refer to me as the “Eternal Optimist”. I wouldn’t view it as 9 years. I would see it as 5. No matter if your son goes to the academy or a normal school outside of your home town, the first 4 years is already spoken for. The difference in the academy is that he’ll learn more discipline and how to “Play well with others” (Leadership/Management) skills. These are things that the normal colleges don’t teach. Other than that, you’ll still see your son at Christmas, Spring Break, and Summer break.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth; my daughter goes to the State “U”. It’s only 52 miles away. The first semester of her freshman year, we saw her every other weekend. Now that she’s a junior and RA in the dorms, we see her at Christmas, Spring Break, and Summer vacation. So, consider the 4 years of school pretty much the same no matter where he goes. After that, he’s already got a job lined up. If you live in Penn; and he gets stationed in Texas; it’s no different that graduating college and getting a job offer in Texas.</p>
<p>Everything just needs to be looked at in perspective. All you need to look at is the first year. That is the hardest to get use to. My son, while uber excited about going to the air force academy and having the opportunity to be a part of the Falcon football team; has already said how he’ll probably miss our “Saturday Family Movie Night”. We have a “Theater” in our house and every saturday night the family always got together; including the kids girl friend/boy friend; and we ate spaghetti and then watched movies on the big screen. It was hard the first Saturday my daughter was gone to college. But you get use to it. Once my son leaves, I’m not sure if my wife and I will want to continue the tradition of the last 10 years. With empty nest, we should most definitely start finding things to do for us now.</p>
<p>Anyway; enjoy the rest of the year. Don’t count the 4 years of academy. It’s the same basically as any school. The time after that which is the commitment can be looked at as a Job. (A very important job, but a job none the less). Good luck…</p>