Empty Nesters

[Bill Wilson]

Well my wife I are empty nesters. I guess that is confirmation of our middle age.

My oldest daughter got married last July. She & her husband are both nurses and live in the area, so we see them often. They are in the process of buying their first house, also still in the area.

We just delivered our youngest daughter to her new home away from home for the next 4 years or so yesterday. She's enrolled in college, fortunately the campus is only an hour away, so she can get home often. I know there are pros and cons about college freshmen spending too much time at home, but I really think that once she gets settled in and starts making friends, she won't feel the need to be able to come home every weekend. For now, she needs the comfort of knowing she can if she wants to.

It was tough leaving her yesterday. She's always been "daddy's girl" and I'm going to really miss her, but I know she'll be OK.

How about the rest of you baby boomers? How did you deal with the empty nest?

[Greenfield_Bob]

My son left for college in 1983 my daughter left for college in 1985 and my wife and I filed and got a divorce in 1985. That pretty much emptied the house, but I got the dog.

Bob

[CanadianScroller]

Our nest is still crowded Son is 26, next son is 25, then daughter is 23.
two have flown and returned, several times,
One knows a good thing when he sees it and has never left.

I am sure I will miss them all when they move but I do look forward to that opportunity
It is amazing just how much one extra person back in the house changes things.

I will have to answer this post correctly in around 15 years, if they are not gone by then I will move.

[William Young (SE BC)]

We have had the empty nest syndrome for quite a few years now. (except for our little spoiled rotten dog ) We have four wonderfull sons that all went out on their own as they became of age and were educated and are all successful in their own choices of trades and/or professions. They are scattered around the country due to where they can get their best employment opportunities . A couple have been transferred from province to province over the years in order to get promoted to higher levels of their employment. One has found his choice of employment in USA , two are in Alberta and one is the head service technician for a company for the entire province of Saskatchewan with many service technicians working under his guidance.
I am extremely proud of every one of them and there is never a week goes by without hearing from them and their lovely families .
We do get together quite often in spite of the distance that they live from home and that is always a wonderfull time to look forward to..
Sure is nice to see all the grandkids growing up and going through their changes in life.
W.Y.

[PeteB]

We have four high school graduates, 3 of whom have been living at home for various reasons. One of my big baby pigeons moved into a dormitory today (second year at school, first living on campus). Going to miss him because he was one of the most considerate and helpful.

Pete

[bronco]

Our nest has been empty for @ 5 years now. Our oldest lives in Austin but keeps in touch often. Our youngest lives here in Victoria, but not in the same house(lol) We see him, our daughter-in law and our grandson almost every day. I guess our empty nest is not quite empty yet, but we like it that way.
Bill

[ozarkhillbilly]

My babies are 26(daughter) and 24(son) and both struck out on their own right after High School, and have made me proud in so many ways. Continuing their education, and pursuing their respective career's, making me a proud Grandpa, and just plain providing me with more joy then I can ever express.

The memories of their growing up are and will always be with me, but for the most part I've been enjoying my 2nd childhood!

[Marcel in Longueuil]

My daughter is 23 and my son 20.

Both have their own place, and neighter wants to come back to live under Dad's house rules

Seems once they tasted the liberty of not having any awfull rules to abide by, such as letting us know if they are coming for supper or coming to sleep for the night, or using headphones to listen to their music loud, they don't want to come back to them anymore.

So it's the wife, me and the two German Sheperd theft deterrent system tha my wife calls her babies, and I call my dogs (and she wonders why they obey me more than her )

Regards,
Marcel

[Minnesota scroller]

Well, it's just me and the wife and the dawg. It's been this way for about 8 years. Sure is peaceful. My 26 yr. old daughter lives about 152 miles away, has been married for a couple years and makes more money than I ever dreamed. She is an assistant marketing manager for Land O Lakes by Minneapolis, MN. This is what she went to school for and is now in the process of getting her Masters. Someday she will be supporting me. I talk to her on the phone every couple weeks and see her every couple months or so. My 29 yr. old daughter went to school for stupid things but she never has listened to good advice. Actually, she does have a pretty good job as co-manager of Victoria's Secret in Sioux Falls, SD, about 90 miles from here. (Victoria's Secret does have some interesting products). She also makes more money than I do. She has been married for almost 4 years and just had a baby boy 1 month ago. I talk to her on the phone at least every other day. We have always been close, probably because she's too much like me. She's in the process of completing her masters, also.

Yes, I'm proud of them both. The 1 tough thing of not having them here anymore is that it's really tough to discipline them long distance. They still don't listen. I'm still trying to get them interested in church. It is so hard to ground them from 100 miles away.

[fretnmore]

Hi Bill,

We've been empty nesters for over 10 years now. As each one left for college we started changing their bedrooms into some other purpose room. Two of them came home for a bit after college, but were anxious to get back out on their own. Our rules were way too restrictive for them after four or five years of college. The third one came home for a bit after college, but was here such a short time that he never actually unpacked much.

Two are married now with two kids each of their own. The third one is buying his first house now and getting off the rent merry go round. We filled the nest with dogs, went out and bought an RV, and got the house air conditioned. Many gripes from the kids about how we waited till they were gone to make that big improvement. Told them the truth, we couldn't afford it when they were still lving at home .

Now that my husband has retired, we were hoping to travel a lot more in that RV - but now gas prices are going thru the roof. Not sure what will happen in the future, but we are enjoying the grandkids - we like our kids in law, and the dogs are fantastic. Guess the nest isn't totally empty, but we are having a blast.

Pat Lupori

[earlinjax]

Is the nest really empty?

This was posted today on another site I monitor:

It's not an empty nest until they get all their stuff out of your attic!

EarlinJax

[Dusty Buffalo]

My son is 17 but decided 3 years ago to go live with is Dad in Denver (a decision I believe he is now regretting). It was an adjustment of sorts to make but at the time we were so busy building a new house that it really kept me busy and I didn't have much time to really think about him being gone. That and I truly believe a teenage boy needs his father during that period of his life.

He came back to visit 2 years ago and to be blunt we didn't have that great of a time together. I think it's the teenage years and mom just isn't cool. I understood that and didn't really worry about it. But this summer he was here about 3 weeks and it just flew by. We had a great time and it was really hard to see him leave.

It was hard for the dogs too. They got used to having someone to play with all day and spoil them will all sorts of attention. It was nice having him visit but I must admit I've gotten used to it being just the hubby, dogs and I. He's talking about moving back to attend college, but he'll probably live on campus as he's wants to be an architect and from what I've heard you pretty much have to live on campus with the lab hours you put in. So we'll see what happens, but either way he's welcome any time.