I should have listened to my wife

I should have listened to my wife. Again.

Sometimes I am amazed at how I get things wrong. Lots of folks won't be surprised by that.

I was wrong this past week. My daughter started university at St. F. X . She has had her mind set on X for a number of years, and even though she visited other campuses she never really took her eyes off Antigonish. It is a great school with great traditions and a strong international reputation. Some of the great social innovators of Canada are connected with X, as are so many of our political, business and academic leaders. But truth be told, my preference would likely be that she stay in Halifax in one of our outstanding institutions. Like a lot of parents, I suppose I wanted to keep our first child closer to home as well. (And it would be a lot less expensive). But we are proud of her for choosing X, and know she will be in good hands. She will be studying business at the Gerald Schwartz School of business and staying in residence.

So this past weekend we loaded up the car and took Emma to start this new chapter in her life. My sister Shelagh works at the Coady Institute in Antigonish after spending most of her life in leadership positions in international development. We had a lovely evening with Shelagh and woke up on Sunday morning and took Emma to the campus. Now I have to admit that my wife has been looking toward this day with a slew of contradictory emotions, while I stayed somehow oblivious to the landmark day. After all, it's only two hours down the road and she will home for many occasions.

But after an entertaining morning of registering, meeting the new President and a number of faculty, and moving Emma into a room about the size of a mid-sized car (which she will share with her roommate) the time came to say goodbye. And it was tougher than I could ever have imagined. I felt pride and satisfaction. And I felt like I was leaving my first born all by herself in the middle of a jungle.

Now, as much as I am irritated by some of the current technologies and our children's dependence on them I love the fact that we can text our kids. When I was an MP and spent many weeks away from the family I loved the connection I had with Emma via text. Every night I could connect with her and know she was okay before the day ended. It was a very important touch point for me. Now I appreciate it even more. It's nice to hear from her even though it can be a monosyllabic response. I find that kids like to rely on yeah, good or okay as responses to probing text questions. But at least it is a connection.

So for our family we are in new territory. Emma is off and on her own. We are so very proud of everything she has accomplished. She is a bright and caring young woman who causes us great pride, and great worry (par for the course, I suppose). And, she has lots of adventures to come.

When Conor heads off in a few years, I will be more ready. My wife will remind me. And I always listen carefully.