Reflections on the Empty Nest After a Year


This week marks the one-year anniversary of us officially becoming empty nesters.  It’s been interesting, to be sure. 

Looking back, it’s both been easier and harder than I thought it would be.  Weird that it could be both, but that’s the only way I can describe it.

First, on the easy side of things: Because the girls were very busy with their own lives and as soon as Morgan became an adult we regularly left them to go on trips and do our own thing, we were kind of used to doing things without them.  So that went on just like it did before.  We enjoy doing things together and have made that a priority, so that was the easiest part of just having two of us at home.

The hard side of things is kind of a mixed blessing.  Because we are still close to the girls, we know what is going on in their lives.  Some of those things have been rough the last year.  It’s stuff all adults go through from time to time, but it was hard to be so far away from them and not able to help them.  But in some ways that was good; we could advise but they had to work their problems out as independent adults.  Sometimes all we could do was listen and pray.  And God has worked most of those things out for His glory at this point. 

Random observations: Learning to cook for two again was different.  I wind up freezing a lot of stuff and then we have easy leftovers.  We also started getting better quality meat delivered, because we can afford it now that we are only feeding two.  The house stays cleaner, but I have to do all of the household chores the girls used to help with.  It hasn’t been too bad, though; laundry goes extremely fast now, so that makes up for it.  The house is also very quiet except when they come for holidays. 

Speaking of the holidays, it’s weird to have the girls come as visitors, but we are adjusting to that.  I am super thankful for cell phones and unlimited talk/text.  That’s very different from when we left home and phone calls cost a certain amount per minute.  And they regularly send us pics of our three grand-kitties (kitty three came home with Bekah last week).  Weird that we went from dog people to all in on Team Cat.  They are just easier. I think we will have a couple of cats visiting for Christmas, so that will be interesting.

All in all, it has been good.  We are looking forward to another year and more adventures, both with our kids and by ourselves.  Life moves in seasons, and every season has its challenges.  One thing is for sure, we all stay busy, so that helps to not miss the girls so much.  People have asked me if I plan to get a job now, but I’m never bored and I stay busy.  I have more projects than time in the week to complete them.  And I have plenty of ideas to add to those projects, so there is always something to fill the time.

Maybe one day we will add grandkids to the mix, and that will change everything.  😊 For now, we will just enjoy this new phase of life and all that comes with it.

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