My son turns 19 today.
Some of you might know him as the 4-year-old who used to play 2K with me and had no idea the guy on the screen was his dad. Or maybe you saw him ball in OH in high school and figured he'd play at the next level like the other legacy kids, and he probably could have, but that's not what he wanted.
Michael spent his first year out of high school building a business in private aviation. No campus, no dorm. Just him, a computer, and a phone, dialing into an industry that doesn't routinely open doors for outsiders, let alone teenagers.
I was nervous when he decided to go this route, and I told him so. College is the safer path and I know what the startup world does to grown men twice his age. But the kid takes rejection better than I ever did, and I supported him in his choice. So, he's learning the business from scratch and holding his own on calls and at conferences where everybody else has 30 years on him.
My nerves wore off somewhere in the past 365. Now I mostly just watch and smile. Kid might not be a hooper, or a college student, but he does have IT.
Happy birthday, son. Keep going.