One day last week, this little blue jay flew over to my window and perched for a few minutes on my screen. I’ve never seen a baby blue jay before. I believe he was in the middle of flying lessons from his parents and made a wrong turn.

Since then, I have seen his brother (or sister) and the littlest blue jay flying around my neighborhood with mom and dad blue jay, practicing short little jaunts from branch to branch, sometimes pausing for a rest.

This past weekend, I had young men (friends of my two sons) in large quantity fluttering around my house, looking for food, playing on the backyard basketball court, pausing on the couch to rest out of the sun before returning to watch or play at the Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

We always have more young men (and a few young women) around when the Macker comes to town. Our basketball court gets more action then. I listen as the ones I see only rarely pop by to update me on their lives. Some I have written resumes or coached on job search tips in the past and we trade stories of life changes.

Whenever one of them says, “I have an interview,” the coach in me comes out as I walk them through what to do in the upcoming interviews. I give them pointers such as: “don’t forget to collect business cards so you have the right spelling and titles to send thank you notes.”

Like the blue jays, learning step-by-step by example, and growing up in the process, these young people also learn. I didn’t stay out on the deck for the conversation last night, but one young man popped in to chat and remarked that they were out there reminiscing of the summers spent at our house. He even had to look over my new office and talked about how much time they spent in here when it was the teen hang out. He’s a corporate trainer now for a group of high-end restaurants.

Another stopped in to tell me how many inquiries (5-to 10 daily) and comments he has gotten on his resume. He will interview this week for a new position he is really excited about in Chicago. He just graduated from college as a marketing major. He winked when he said his friends aren’t getting any responses on theirs and can’t figure out why.

Another is still sleeping as I write this, he has his degree in commercial architectural design and will soon need his resume updated with new information.

My client base is broad and filled with a wide range of fields as well as different levels of professionals but I always have a special place in my heart for these young men as they start out on their adult lives. Flying solo and starting out into the world on their own...much like the littlest blue jay learning to fly on his own.