Put your pencils down

I racked my brain. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing to my son. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on him, but I also wanted to let him know that I understood the importance of the week and that we had his back. My son is finishing up his first semester of college at West Virginia University and I was trying to figure out the best way of encouraging him on his finals. 

He had a full course load, taking Calculus, Biology, and Chemistry, with a couple of other classes mixed in as well. He plans to pursue a Psychology/Pre-med major. He has ambitious goals and already puts a ton of pressure on himself. If anything, I wanted my words to give him a virtual hug.

I ended up going with my go-to phrase: “Do your best. We love you.”

(I’m sure my son rolled his eyes at the text, but I can live with that. It’s more important to me that he knows we’re there for him.)

Pressure building up

Oh, I remember being in his shoes. It’s the end of the semester. You’re tired and beaten down, but you still need to do well on your final exams. Your biggest nightmare is the professor standing up and saying, “Pencils down” and you still have half the test to take. Finals come at you rapid-fire. You walk out of one and put your head up to catch your breath and two more finals pull you back down. Your whole life seems to come down to the next several days and your success or, dare I say it, failure.

Will you be ready? Will you get the grade that you need?

At least, that’s how it felt for me when I was young and a college student.

And the final grade is . . .

Oh, our son is our youngest and we’ve been through this with the other two. Of course, we know better — that life is more than one little “blue book” exam or several stapled pages full of detailed math and chemistry problems, but to an 18 or 19-year-old, full of wide-ranging hopes and dreams, final exams take on astronomical importance.

We’ll find out soon enough how he did. I pick him up on Thursday night and, let’s just say, he’s no Poker player. His smile or grimace will let us know his final grades well before his first “hello.” Yes, he’s worried, but as my father used to say about people he admired, “he’s got a good head on his shoulders” and I’m sure he did fine.

Yes, no matter what the final test says, he’s worked hard and I’m proud of him.