All Alone with My Empty Nest (and Too Busy to Notice!)

I’m all alone for a few weeks. You’d think something terrible has happened.

Honestly, the worst of it is trying to figure out how to make both a movie date and a yoga workout in the same evening.

I’m blissfully busy!

My daughters are vacationing with relatives in Canada, and within the first two days, concerned friends and colleagues are already in the empty-nest mindset, worrying about me now and what will happen when Aislinn leaves for college in a year.  I’m shocked by the number of people who suggest I sell my house and buy a smaller one–as if I must justify my space with children rather than houseguests or a live-in lover or…pets?  Really, if I sell my home, I’ll be moving to some exotic place or planning a long-term round-the-world trip, not a scaled-down version of life.

I’ve focused on not living my life through my children or making them the center of my world, especiallty now that they’re older and becoming independent.  I’d love to save them from mistakes, but I fullly recognize that that’s how they learn and they’re not here to be a do-over for the way I’ve lived my life and dreams.  I don’t hound them about what to do with their lives.  It’s their lives–and I’m instead focusing on mine while very much enjoying them.

So my well-meaning friends amuse me as they fret over me and invite me to more social events than I could fit into the next six months in order to fill up some void they think I must have in my time or heart.  They don’t need to worry– my life is full, busy, and fun.  And I’m thankful to have good friends who would certainly help to fill a gap if there should be one.