(Editor's Notes by Christina Myer - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

You can learn a lot at holiday family gatherings.

This year, I learned the phrase “wonky-turvy” from someone who was surprised the rest of us didn’t use it. It was hard for any of us to make too much fun, however, as we include “cattywampus” in our own vocabularies.

But I also learned that figuring out what to do with the rest of your life isn’t as much different as I thought it would be for my relatives who are in their late teens and early 20s compared with what it was for my generation.

There are some big differences of course. Every time one of them talked to me about a college they were considering or a town to which they are thinking of moving for a bigger job, they pulled out their phones to show me maps, course catalogs and dining options.

But so much felt familiar.

For those deciding on a college, there is the conflict between the school with the best academics and the one with the best extra-curricular options. But then, if choosing the one with the best academics, which major to pursue? And does that mean this is the end of sports and music?

Perhaps toughest to watch is the struggle to come up with an answer when an older relative asks “So, where are you going to school?” “Decide what you want to do yet?”

Sometimes the questions come off as containing a little envy for those at the start of their journey, sometimes there’s a note of sympathy for the challenges ahead.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m as guilty as anyone of asking such questions. It’s an easy conversation-starter with someone decades younger — until you see the panic in their faces as they try to come up with an answer that will satisfy all the adults they love and respect.

Maybe next time I’ll lead with “It’s OK if the answer is ‘I have no idea.'”

I didn’t, at that stage.

For those just a smidge older who are jetting off to a bigger metropolitan area after college graduation, the excitement and anxiety felt familiar, too. Being farther away from everything you’ve ever known is daunting. Deciding to make the leap takes more bravery than we give people credit for when we project our own negativity, stubbornness and regrets with little remarks like “the grass isn’t always greener.”

No. Not always, but there’s the chance it might be.

Even better, there’s the chance they might learn something they eventually bring back home with them.

By the way, from my own family I heard nothing but support for those planning to make their start somewhere else. But I’ve been around enough such conversations to know the other response crops up from time to time, too.

This bunch of young people (all of them, not just the ones I know can use cattywampus in a sentence) might not do things quite the way we did. They might spend a lot of time on their phones, listen to audiobooks instead of reading, and have much more open minds and higher standards for the way they treat and take care of their fellow human beings, but they are also good, smart, strong kids setting off on the same paths we all faced decades ago.

Remember how that felt? Remember what you wanted for yourselves and the world back then? Remember how frustrating it was not quite to know where you were headed?

The time is coming when they will have to take that first step whether they (or we) like it or not. And much as I’d like to protect them all from the disappointments I know they’ll face, those will come, too. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if we could give them the support and understanding we wish we’d had, so they can choose a direction and take off running?

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com