Health & Fitness
An Empty Nest Leads to Blogging (Intro)
Launching children from the nest comes quicker than expected
How is it possible that after spending the last two decades raising kids only one child is home full time now? Suddenly, my expertise as a chauffeur, shopper and cook is not required, and I no longer rush from one field to catch part of two kids' games or panic about being late for pickup.
What's a mom to do? I guess I'll blog about it. After all, having juggled four kids and a career over the past 23 years I must have something worth sharing, right? With permission from my kids, here goes…
Remember when you started having children? Maybe you had no idea what you were doing, but somehow you managed to get through. We managed so well, that we had four kids in six years. It was the "every-other-year" plan. Now, the process is being reversed and believe me, it's much harder getting used to fewer kids in the house, than it was filling it.
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When the oldest went off to college five years ago, we missed her, but the activity level in the house was still ramped up. When the second child entered college we were back to an even ratio of kids to adults and it was tolerable. This year, the third child left for school and the nest feels remarkably emptier.
It's not like I didn't know these days were coming, in fact, we even had a preview this summer, when a nest filled with four perfect blue eggs appeared in a window box on our porch. We had a birds-eye view as each egg hatched and we proudly named them after our kids. We watched in wonder as the babies, with their disproportionately huge eyes closed, their beaks were open wide, chirped for the worms and insects their parents deposited into them.
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For two weeks, we were mesmerized by the hard-working parents and the ever-changing babies who grew from the "so ugly they are cute stage," to the pudgy, young adult stage. Then, as quickly as they became part of our lives and the subject of daily photo sessions, they flew away.
Our nest is emptying more gradually, and it feels good to launch our kids who are sure to be back to visit, but insects and worms won’t be on our menu.
