Books to Remember

My son will be graduating from college this May.

Like every Mom, I have mixed feelings and will surely be carting a box of Kleenex when we head down to Indiana to attend his graduation ceremony.  Our oldest, a daughter, graduated two years ago and it was all a blur: graduation, job interviews, acceptance of an offer and bam she was on her own!    I don’t expect that this will be any easier.

Once we wrote that last tuition check, and after my husband and I had crawled out from under the confetti, my thoughts turned to the ceremony and all of the planning.   

Our son is not one to be comfortable with pomp and circumstance. In fact, he agreed to take part in the ceremony simply because Mom and Dad wanted to enjoy the moment. If it were up to him, he would take his finals, pack up his room (in garbage bags, of course!) and shut that door permanently behind him. As he puts it, “How exciting is it to watch me walk across a stage and accept a piece of paper?”

I truly don’t expect him to see this from the eyes of a 29 and holding parent, but I also know that this is one of those moments that you need to celebrate.  I felt the same way when I had reached my senior year in college.  I didn’t see the point in all of the fuss and went through the ceremony for my parents. Looking back, 30 years later, I’m glad I did. You can’t get those moments back so you need to live them, not run from them. 

My thoughts focused on what his graduation gift would be.

I wanted to find something that would help him as he moved forward in life. During his college years, he has become quite an avid reader. Life can take some confusing and challenging turns. I thought a selection of books that would help him make sense out of these turns in the road, would be the personal gift that I was looking to give him.

I’ve made my choices for his graduation gift this year, but I thought it would be fun to open up the dialogue among my fellow readers out there.

So I’m asking you to share your suggestions.  I’d also love to hear why you liked it or why it helped you.  To make it simple, I’ve listed what I was searching for in my books for my son, but you don’t have to be limited by this. I‘m open to suggestions and I think others will appreciate whatever you share.

• A book that has given you valuable advice on life
• A book that has given you valuable advice on balancing a career and personal life.
• A book that is just fun and positive.

Thanks for sharing.  I look forward to some great input!