Yes, I have previously let my oldest son “entertain” or “host” a sibling but the first time I did this, he was living in a dorm room and his sister was looking at the college he went to. He didn’t do the actually rooming with him but found a female friend for her to stay with so she could decide if she liked the school or not.

Monday was the start of a new part of parenting. My oldest graduated from college in May. He has a job at a CPA firm that starts September 4th (he had interned at the firm for two years and they wanted him to have the summer off ). He has an apartment in Syracuse that he is sharing with a friend from college and is working at a grocery store over the summer . So, lo and behold, he invited his 16 year old brother to come up and spend three days with him. The grocery hours are hit and miss. Seems he had Tuesday and Wednesday off this week and only worked four hours on Monday.

The apartment complex is nice. It has tennis courts and a pool. So off went the 16 year old for three days. I was a little hesitant. Oldest and roomie have three channels at the moment as they do not have cable yet. They have no phone in their apartment but both have cells. I was not sure the 16 year old would manage but it was summer vacation and he wanted to spend some time with his older brother.

Well, when I get there to drop him off, I find out that they have another visitor as well – a college friend who has been there for the weekend but not heading back downstate until Tuesday sometime. That’s okay. I have met all the guys before so I trust them somewhat. I am hoping that in the six weeks since their college graduation they have matured greatly. The 16 year old thinks this is great. He can play tennis with his brother. They can jump in the pool afterwards. They can eat pizza and stay up until all hours watching movies .

Much to my surprise, the 16 year old came out of this with some additional knowledge. He has recently decided he wants to get an education in sound engineering. He has had some trouble doing research on this particular field but it is not unheard of with the friend whose visit overlaps with his. He comes home with some new information and new colleges to look at. The trip was more than spending time with big brother – it was truly a good and a learning experience.