An empty nest? How can that be?

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empty nest

I find myself in a bit of an unusual situation (not all that unusual unless your main occupation has been raising kids for the last 20+ years). I have worked myself out of a job. Not really, I mean I am a mom, and I will always be Mom to three really great people. But, those people have gone and done exactly what I raised them to do- grown up and moved on in the process of becoming productive members of society. Currently, my oldest is on his own and working (in Alaska- it’s a whole thing. I’ll get into it later.) My middle is about to graduate from college, which is freaking me out almost as much as it is freaking her out. And the youngest is finishing her second year of college out of state. That has left me and my husband all alone (with 2 dogs) in our house for the vast majority of our time. Which brings me to the real blessing of the empty nest—TIME.

I have some now. This is a very unusual state for someone who had three kids going in three different directions for many years. There are no practices to drive to, no games or performances to attend. It’s a bit odd, I must admit, but the time is there. Time to do what I want to do. Time with no real constraints on it. Entire Saturdays with nothing on the schedule that requires leaving the house. This is both liberating and terrifying. All of those things I said I wished I could do, if only I had time, are now staring me down. The excuses are out of the way. I have time. What was it I wanted to do again? 

I’ve wanted to write a blog for a long time. I love to read them. But it always fell to the bottom of the list. There are so many links on Pinterest about starting a blog, and SEO, and 10 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started My Blog, and on and on. Reading about starting a blog was becoming the procrastination to actually starting said blog. My son started a blog (with very little fanfare, and it’s quite interesting), then my daughter started encouraging me, and then the very bad thing happened. A close family friend, a man I have known since childhood and consider as nothing less than a brother, got brain cancer. I hate even typing the words. He is fighting it with grace and intelligence and in all the ways that make him him. But it struck me that I had things I wanted to do. Not for anyone else, just for me, and I wasn’t doing them. I didn’t want to have to get the ultimate wake-up call and realize I might not have time to do my things. And so, here we go.

This blog is a way to keep track of the things I am doing and those I hope to start doing as I remember everything I wanted to do all of those years I was raising kids, and cooking dinners between drop-offs, and checking homework, and worrying about them getting into a good college. I have a few ideas, and I hope to think of more as the days move along.

I’m only almost an empty nester, and right now that is the best. These kids will be coming and going for a few more years as they get going on their lives. Right now, I can enjoy doing the things I want to do, if I can just remember what all of those things are.

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