Part 3 of the empty empty nest

We got home after dropping off our daughter in NYC (mid August) and helping her set up her new apartment.  She was excited and ready to embark on her career and has an amazing first apartment.  Her brownstone walk up in Gramercy is something I would have strived to have lived in when I worked in the city 35 years ago.  She is in a prime Manhattan location with restaurants and stores all around.  I do not think she will miss the suburbia life of metro-west Boston very much.

We came home to empty bedrooms but a very happy smiling dog.  At least Delilah was there to great us and bring a smile to my face.  I left NY trying to hold back my tears and did fine most of the past 24 hours.  We made a stop at Mohegan Sun to have a destination and break during this transition instead of coming straight home to our empty nest. This was a great way to debrief.  It took a few days for the quiet to set in but then my husband and I started to get into our normal routine.  We could begin to make plans with our friends and do things on our own time.  A weekend movie or last minute meal at a restaurant just because we feel like it would become the new normal. 

Fast forward one month later,  (mid Sept) all three kids came home for close to a week to celebrate my father-in-laws unveiling and birthday of my youngest daughter.  Although originally my New York kids planned to just stay the weekend they agreed to spend the week since my daughter was in from the West Coast for the week with her boyfriend and dog.  It was great to have everyone home under one roof.  As the weather was warm we ended up spending most of the week down the Cape.  We had a week of quality family time and intense conversation.

Although lots of fun, I do admit it is unbalanced to cram everything everyone wants to do because they are only here for a few days into both schedule and diet.  We ate out almost every night at someone's favorite restaurant or made someone's favorite meal.    The house was a sudden disorder and my exercise equilibrium got out of sink.   There was constant running around.

Although I often think about downsizing, it was great to have a place to accomodate everyone and not feel cramped.  More often than not, however,  we are in a large empty house with just two of us.  The size and expense are high and downsizing would enable us freedom of time and ability to visit the kids more often.  I do wonder how it will be to live in a smaller home and know we have to get rid of a lot to do this.  But then again at some point our kids will all have larger homes of their own that we can visit and perhaps relocate some of our things.

After one week everyone went home to their jobs and homes I was left with a 3 pound weight gain and loads of sheets and dirty towels . I had cleaners come to both houses to vacuum, wash floors and deep clean.   After getting resettled again the house seemed quite.  We then went away for a week to a conference (late Sept) and are just starting to get back into the empty nest routine. 

Next weekend is a long weekend and my daughter is returning to Boston for Homecoming.  We are planning to visit NY late October.  In addition, yesterday I got a facebook message from our Italian son, an  exchange student, Samuele who lived with us for a year.  He is able to come visit our family for Thanksgiving.  I texted my kids right away and told them.  Everyone is in process of booking tickets to come home now for the holiday.  I am so excited that we will have a full house in November and truly can't wait.  We will try to visit the West Coast early winter.  We have lots of places to go now.  Although we miss the kids the visits do give us something to look forward to.  Maybe this empty nest thing isn't as bad as I feared.