Chapter 15. The New Path to Adulthood

“I don’t know much about college. But I know you’ll figure it out.” My father wasn’t much for giving verbal advice. Instead, he often stood back and let me try new things, watching as I sometimes failed and sometimes succeeded, and only encouraging me to pick myself up and try again. In that moment, though, just as he was about to leave me on that college campus for the first time, he did the last thing I expected him to do. He gave me a bear hug, slapped me on the back a few times, and said, “Go get ‘em, boy.” Even at the peak of my rebellious years, I knew that someday I wanted to be half the father he was.

August 1996

The path from childhood to professional success has been repeated and nearly etched ...

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