Right now, I am a sandwich, because my parents still try to "mentor" me while I try to "mentor" my son.

Even before my son turned 18, he told me not to "lecture" him about dating, since "it's all old school stuff." I couldn't agree more, but whenever I had a chance I would sneak in a sentence or two about "how to."

More than a year ago, I asked a young woman whether or not I could mentor her. That turned out to be more than I asked for, because she and I are friends now. I help her sometimes, and she helps me sometimes.

This week, I was asked by a Ph.D. candidate to have a chat. I gladly said "sure." We had a nice lunch today, and agreed to meet again.

Because the conversation was about first years living in the US, it brought back a lot of memories of my own experience, which I almost forgot (or too busy to think about it anymore). Maybe it's time to go back, and re-exam what I did right and what I did wrong?

I hope being a mentor does not mean I am “successful” enough to guide a young person. I clearly sense the generation gap. Even so, it might be fun to “talk stories” (a very local expression in Hawaii). I will only go as far as “this is what I did or didn’t do,” but I will never say “You should do this and that.”

Mom, Dad, do you read my Blog?