I Tom Colicchio

This is, of course, not news, not even close, and not a secret. It's just a reminder.

Anyway…

Tom Colicchio was obviously thrilled to hear that his hit TV show Top Chef garnered two Emmy nominations Thursday morning – "It feels great!" – but the award-winning chef admits he's a bit preoccupied these days: his wife is expecting a baby!

…So will his new son be expected to follow in the footsteps of his Beard-award-winning dad?

"He could do whatever!" Colicchio says, adding that both his sons, "can do whatever they'd like to do as long as they're happy."

I always feel all blubby anytime I read/hear parents saying that to their kids. One of the greatest gifts my parents gave me was the freedom from the corrosive pressure to be anything other than I was—and thank Maude. No one even knew what the internet was when I was a kid (besides Al Gore), no less had begun to imagine blogging. Some destinies don't even exist when the trip is begun; I can't image any other way besides "whatever they'd like" for that reason. But I know not everyone is so fortunate to be left to blaze their own trails unimpeded.