Moments of Life | College-bound
To our readers: Today, The Honolulu Advertiser is proud to present our first Moments of Life photo feature. As we pass through this world, we share an essential common experience – birth, family life, schooling, adulthood, aging and death. Many also experience the joys of a loving relationship, parenthood, caring for children and eventually, seeing them off into the world. Our social natures lead us into communities, where we are connected by bonds of friendship, ethnicity and economics.
With our monthly Moments of Life feature, we hope to shine a light on these personal transitions and connections. Because these experiences are both universal and one-of-a-kind, readers can enjoy the feature for its familiar aspects, as well as the information it provides about others' way of life.
We welcome your reactions or suggestions for future topics. Send comments to Island Life editor Elizabeth Kieszkowski, ekieszkowski@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8034.
Last hours before taking flight
Susan Engebretson sends her "six-foot baby," Nick, off to the University of Colorado-Boulder before returning to an empty nest. After giving him a lei, Susan is about to kiss him goodbye. (Nick admitted later that he got a bit choked up.)
Photos by Gregory Yamamoto
Advertiser Staff Photographer
The day Nick Engebretson left for college, his parents Susan and George felt the whirling emotions that come with sending their last child out of the nest.
"If we weren't so happy he was getting his choice, we'd be heartbroken," Susan Engebretson said.
Dad George Engebretson and Nick check their luggage — some of which wasn't packed until just a few hours before their father-son trip. The day of departure was equal parts sentimental journey and errand-running, full of meaning and emotion for Nick.
Nick graduated from Punahou this year, and he is attending the University of Colorado-Boulder. He'll be one of the select students chosen for the Colorado university's architecture program. For him, it was equal measures of sentimental journey and last-minute business.
Between packing, a quick stop at the bank and downloading his favorite CDs into his new laptop, Nick had a last wave to catch, a girlfriend to kiss goodbye and his mother to embrace.
"It went smoothly," said Nick.
He'll see his mother in October when she stops at the campus in the Denver foothills on her way home from a business trip, but he couldn't help but feel the tug for home when his mother gave him a lei and a kiss, then whispered into his ear, "Godspeed."
"That meant something to me," he said.
His girlfriend's tearful goodbye was made more poignant by a last-minute gift: She gave him a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go."
Still, given all the activity, his parents were more Zen than frantic.
Susan Engebretson knows this is a portentous time in her son's life, and she has heard others describe the last days at home as wacky, sad and giddy.
That's why the Niu Valley mother of two "wanted it to be calm," she said.
"This going away pushes everyone to the next level," said Susan Engebretson, an executive with Gucci.
Though they had gone through this before with their older daughter, George Engebretson said sending his son off to college came with its own set of emotions.
Still, the owner of Watermark Publishing said with just a note of wistfulness, "Time goes fast."
• • •
On his last day at home before heading off to college, Nick Engebretson eats a breakfast of eggs and Portuguese sausage.
• • •
One last wave: That was one item on Nick's list of things to do before heading off to college. Nick paddles back to shore after about an hour of surfing with friends off Diamond Head. After this, he has to make a stop at the bank, then pick up his girlfriend for a last goodbye.
• • •
Girlfriend Katie D'Agnes says her goodbyes. It's been a whirlwind summer romance, but she'll be heading back to Boston for her sophomore year. They've decided to be just friends, so the parting was hard all around.
• • •
After a late lunch with his parents, Nick is running out of time to clean his room. He is hoping especially to make space under his bed for storage. He put important things under the bed. "Out of sight, out of mind," remarks his mother.
• • •
Susan Engebretson secures the boxes with tape as Nick rechecks his school's orientation packet.
• • •
George and Nick Engebretson load up mom's car, the Jeep, in the garage of their Niu Valley home. Besides two boxes, he had a duffle bag and one carry-on bag. In that carry-on is a present from his 22-year-old sister, Maggie, "Sophomore Speaks," a handout including sophomore tips for a new freshman that Maggie had personalized.
• • •
Nick waves goodbye to his mother at airport security. Dad George was a bit sad when he remembered his own college sendoffs, filled with family, friends and lei at the gate.
