Nice!

This evening I accepted an invitation from a student, a graduating senior, to have dinner with him and his wife at their home. This is a student who is a real character and I have become very fond of. Recently, I treated him and his wife to dinner, to celebrate his graduation, his winning a prize and the news that they are expecting. This was, thus, a 'return match'.

It was a very nice evening. I got to see their home, that they had done major improvements to. The food was wholesome and excellent. We then spent a good deal of time sitting outside by a fire and chatting. Amazingly enough, the weather has taken a temperate turn and this evening was almost a little bit chilly.

It is really nice to see a student mature from being a somewhat callow youth into being a responsible adult. We talked about the future and the possibility of graduate school. However, the feeling I came away with, beyond anything, was what a huge honor it is to help guide someone through the vagaries of higher education into a better life. Sometimes, being a professor has benefits that are worth more than a simple pay check. This evening reminded me very strongly of this fact.

The CP