Things I Might Enjoy as an Empty Nester

Last year we were thrilled when our son graduated from high school and was accepted to the three colleges to which he applied. We were secretly overjoyed when he chose to stay home and attend the local community college. We knew then that his decision to attend community college, was less about missing his Dad and I , than it was about missing his sister, 15 months his junior.

We are truly blessed that our kids are very close and as he embarked on his college freshman year and she entered her senior year in high school, we knew they were happy to still be around each other.

All that will change in a few months.

Since moving from California in 2004, our daughter has always expressed interest in going to college there. So I was surprised after we sent out the first applications and said she thought she might consider New York as well.
I was secretly thrilled. I realized it was dawning on her how far California would be and she may not be able to visit us as much as she liked. We expanded the college search to New York schools.

While our daughter was applying to college for the first time, our son worked on his transfer applications to a 4-year school in his sophomore year.

Two weeks ago, her first acceptance package came from UCLA. We were so excited to see her hard work pay off. With her third acceptance from a California school, before anythig from a New York school I saw a little bit of anxiety in both kids about where she would finally choose.

Yesterday our son got his first letter as well. This coming week we should hear from one final New York school for her and a Washington DC school for him.

As for my husband and I, we are pondering quietly our next steps as empty nesters. Putting aside that we may have to take in boarders (;> to help us pay tuition, we think we are going to enjoy the following simple pleasures as empty nesters:

1. Finding things, like car keys, television remote, iPhone charger exactly where we left them.
2. Not tripping over shoes, four or five pairs to be exact when we walk into the house.
3. Having a free computer available whenever I want one
4. Not having to dig through my daughters' jewelery box to find my stuff
5. Being able to find one of OUR cd's in the appropriate case
6. Having at least one of my movies come to the top of the queue on Netflix
7. Taking a nap on the sofa without being poked by things like guitar strings, picks or skateboard bolts
8. Having an adult looking living space again
9. Maybe we can enjoy the Bose Wave radio we thought we were buying for us.
10. Maybe we can find dishes in the kitchen again; especially ones that weren't used as a paint palette

I know there will be other little pleasures that come to mind as the months fly by.

As parents, we are comforted to know this is the next logical step for these young adults and as long as they stay safe and healthy; make sound decisions and work through disappointments, we can't ask for more.