My husband and I are about to become Empty Nesters. Our only child, Kyle, will soon be off to a university half way across the country.
Many of our friends have recently murmured their sympathies: “Your house will be so quiet/empty/lonely,” and “How sad he’ll be so far away from home,” and “Why doesn’t he go to an in-state college so he can come home on the weekends?”
Yes, Todd and I love and will certainly miss our son – he has been the main focus of our lives for the past 18 years, after all. But Kyle hasn’t been our only focus, and being his parents hasn’t been our only role in life; Todd and I have jobs and friends and each other; we share interests that don’t involve parenting; interests, that, before long, we’ll pursue whole-heartedly when we find ourselves unencumbered by the day-to-day responsibilities of child rearing.
We are proud that our son has grown into the well-adjusted young man he is today, and pleased he chose the college that best suits his strengths (even though it is four states away). Now is Kyle’s time to begin exploring the world independently without his parents by his side and, née, his beck-and-call (although technology like Skype and Facebook and cell phones and airplanes will keep us in touch).
Besides, Todd and I have plans: after first taking over Kyle’s newly vacated bedroom for our hobbies, we will begin doing the things we’ve dreamed about for years, such as traveling on a whim; no longer having to schedule vacations during school breaks; spending entire days wandering museums or walking foreign cities together (without worrying whether our child is bored or tired or hungry); dining at restaurants that don’t feature mainly chicken fingers and French fries; booking at a B&B without having to ask, “is there space in the room for a child's cot?”
Most of all, Todd and I look forward to reconnecting with each other, spending time as a couple, exploring the world together. We’ll take advantage of this maybe-more-than-once-but-rare-
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