As my son went off to school, everyone kept asking me, “what are you going to do now that you’re an empty nester?”
Reflecting back on the past 18 years, I can still vividly remember taking my son home from the hospital. I can also remember taking my daughter home from the hospital 24 years ago. It could have been yesterday, it’s that clear of a memory.
Now my friend and co-worker, Lisa Gordon just had her baby and I keep thinking about how it was when I took home my two. The first was difficult. My husband and I brought Zoey home and we didn’t know what to do with her. There was also a Nor’easter that weekend and we were trapped in the house. I couldn’t stop checking on Zoey to make sure she was still breathing. It was so stressful those first few weeks.
As time went by and as the kids got older, my love for them continued to grow unconditionally. Anything that they did, I would love them forever and for always.
Someone once told me that once you have children, you never will be an empty nester because you will always be involved in their lives and they will call you often. Well, that I’ve found to be true.
I actually find that as an empty nester, I have a better, deeper relationship with both my children. But I can’t stop thinking back to a time that I first had them. Now they are adults but when I brought them home from the hospital, they were 100 percent dependent.
It’s been an amazing road that I will always remember and cherish. And even as an empty nester, I will continue to be a part of my children’s lives as long as they will have me…
