Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Our Empty Nest (A Preview Of Things To Come)


Well as of this past weekend, Hubby and I are empty-nesters and I for one don’t quite know what to do with myself. Both girls are away for a little over a week of learning, playing and in general exploring the new possibilities the world has to offer. As for me, I’m a little lost. My plan was to work, do some home decluttering projects - maybe figure out how to sell things on ebay, knit, read, go out to dinner with the Hubby, go to a movie or a nearby music festival, and in general do things I don’t usually feel like I have enough time for.

But my plan is falling through and it’s stressing me out. Work is oddly slow – giving me even more time than I’m used to. I know I should make the most of this rare time to myself, but I feel very disorganized, unfocused and sleepy. I feel like I’m just flitting around, alighting here and there but not really accomplishing anything. Making a grocery list yesterday was a major accomplishment, but I forgot to go to the market and there was no OJ for breakfast! This is not like me at all. I’m all about checking things off my lists, not procrastinating, etc.

Yes, I’m definitely missing the girls, but I know they are safe and doing the things that make them happy. This, however, is the first time they’ve both been away at the same time so it’s a glimpse of what is to come when they both fly the coop in the not so distant future. Last night Hubby and I went out to dinner, and you guessed it, we talked about the girls pretty much the entire time. We will be going out again tonight (using up gift certificates –love that) and I wonder if we can go an entire meal without bringing them up, and if so where the conversation will meander. I’ll ask Hub if he’s up for the challenge, if so, I know it will tough. All bets are off though if one of them calls during dinner.

This is a weird week for me. I thought I’d be so productive, but I guess I need time to adjust, shift gears, get used to a different routine – I’m slow to change, but as long as I keep moving forward however slowly, I guess that’s good enough some days. In the meantime, where was I? Oh yes, grocery list ….

photo: © Isabel M Tirado

3 comments:

  1. you are invited to follow my blog

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love that you and your husband have challenged each other to have an entire dinner without relying on your girls for conversation. It's such a great idea and he seems like a good sport to go along with it.

    It seems that the less there is to do, the less you do do. Too, it is changing gears like you say, getting used to the different dynamic in the home without them there.

    When they arrived (when your family went from two to four) the dynamic would have changed then, you just didn't have a chance to think about it!

    Are they a similar age that they will both be moving out together? Twins?

    ReplyDelete
  3. The girls are 13 & 15, so the moving out process is a bit out in the future and thankfully staggered. I agree with you, when I have more to do than I think I can handle, I become very efficient. I LOVE deadlines, so I guess the reverse is true too. I'm just trying not to be too hard on myself this week.

    ReplyDelete