I did not want our children to inherit that idea.

Zachary was working on university applications by then.

He preferred a strong mathematics department within a day’s drive of home.

Nathan wanted a program with access to laboratory equipment and research mentors, even if it meant living farther away.

Neither boy had decided where to go.

I kept reminding them that the decision should be based on the education and life they wanted, not on how to make adults happy.

One Sunday Nathan asked whether I would be lonely if both of them left at once.