The Empty Nest

For years, we have heard people talk about becoming “empty nesters”.  More than talk about it, we know people who have counted down the minutes, relishing the moment when their kids have flown the coop and left home.  Between staggered graduations, COVID and various periods at home after college, we have only been full-time empty nesters for about a year.

Sure, there are some benefits.  There is less laundry to do, fewer mouths to feed, somehow the house doesn’t get dirty as fast.  We can put stuff in the kids’ rooms when we need extra space to stow something.  We can even steal a nap on one of their beds when the master bedroom is in use.  Meal planning (or lack thereof) is certainly easier with only two of us at home.  We can plan a prep a full meal or just do sandwiches.  Or even skip a meal if we’re not that hungry.  By the same token, if we’re not up to cooking, we can order in or go out to grab a bite without it being a major production.  We can make last minute decisions on doing something and just hop in the car and do it.  Easy peasy.  All of that is good.

Also, there’s all of the positive implications of being empty nesters.  It means that our kids are out there living lives, meeting people, experiencing things and all of that is good too.  We’ve spent our lives raising our kids to be smart, independent people who can flourish out in the world.

But that’s just the thing.  My wife love each other and enjoy spending time just the two of us.  But we also cherish time with our kids.  It is precisely because they are so smart, fun, adventurous, funny, thoughtful and many other things that we really like having them around.  They were around for the holidays and it was amazing.  We ate, we laughed, we saw some shows, we watched movies, we played games, we chatted about life, movies, books and other stuff.  It was delightful.  We so enjoy spending time with them.  We like to hear about their lives/friends/adventures apart from us.  We are so proud of them and the people they are becoming.  We can’t wait for the next time we’re all together again.

But in the meanwhile, I think I’m just going to have ice cream for dinner and call that a meal.

Thanks for reading.

Frosty