by EnnisP

Created on: January 26, 2009   Last Updated: April 12, 2012

Feathers To Help You Fly

Recently my wife and I did something that we had done many times before: We put our son on an airplane headed to the USA. Even though we had done it before, this time it was different. This was a first.

In the past there was always a date on which he would return "home" and the time away wouldn't be that long, six weeks at the most. This time he is returning to the States with the intention of settling there for good. Even writing those words is strange for me.

He is certainly ready for this move. We are behind him completely and have confidence he will do well, but it is still a very big step. He is going to the country in which he was born, but in which he has lived for only a short time. He starts with no definite job and only a very small amount of "get by" money. He has a car, which was graciously given him, but has very little experience driving and maintaining it in the US. He has no definite long-term place to stay and he is mostly a stranger to the city in which he plans to settle initially.

Fortunately, he is very qualified in two ways: he has a degree in biotechnology and he writes songs, sings and plays guitar better than average (actually quite well!). He enjoys biotech, but music is where his heart is. He travels with a credible diploma in one hand and a properly recorded CD in the other. He'll be trying his luck with the music industry and investigating biotech jobs at the same time. And, he will probably do a bit of scrub work until he can make a reasonable decision. Regardless the direction in which he goes he will need to make many strategic decisions within the first few weeks and that could be tricky.

All of these things together can make any person a bit nervous. The transition can be made but there are pitfalls. Everyone makes mistakes (even my son) and that can frustrate a perfectly laid plan. As his departure day got closer I kept thinking, what more can I tell him, what else does he need to learn and how can I help, short of keeping him home. There was more advice to give and it had to be done quickly and concisely. Long wordy statements are boring and the meaning is usually lost in the time it takes to read them. After a bit of thinking I came up with the following:

To the son that we love on his departure from home: Bits of advice (Feathers to help you fly)

* Keep right (on the road you are in the USA not South Africa)

* Keep a moderate pace (plan your time, don't hurry haste makes waste

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