Friday night, spring break at college descended on our home as the fledglings returned.
Now, our oldest came home for a couple days, and is currently on her way to Branson with her boyfriend. Our youngest is home until Friday, when we head to Iowa City.
We noticed this at Christmas, then again when the youngest came home last week, when the house if full, we just don’t seem in sync. I would imagine that’s because we have adult children now, but it takes some getting used to for all of us. Figuring out shower schedules, eating schedules, heck, sleep schedules, it makes things a little tense.
Of course, it doesn’t help when everyone’s a little grumpy: us because our students have been a mess because of snow days, our oldest because “college is hard” and our youngest because “college is hard when you don’t use your time wisely”. While there weren’t the harsh arguments, it gets tense.
On the flip side, we talked until midnight Friday, with the oldest and myself being up late last night trying to fix her taxes (my mess up, not hers). There was laughter and good questions and right now, youngest is over at a neighbor’s house, loving on a newly born calf who she’ll show this summer.
As I reflect on my brother and me, what we did when we were home after a year in college, it couldn’t have been easy for my parents. I need to thank my parents for not beating us senseless with the tomfoolery we pulled. In our family, our oldest really never moved home as she had an intership one year, and stayed cheap in Ames last year. Of course, she never had a job last summer, which is a point of contention in our house, but she made it through and has another intership, starting in May.
This summer could be interesting with our youngest wanting to work a job 15 miles away rather than the job 5 miles down the road (seriously), but she’s our “learn the hard way” child. We’ll be there to support, pick her up, and do what we do.
I’m not sure why people fear the empty nest. There’s more than enough to do around here to keep both my wife and I busy.
What I fear, that the nest will be repopulated with fledglings! Please, come visit, and if need be, stay a while, but now is your time! 🙂
#gofly
The Life of a Conflicted Teacher 
March 17, 2019 at 7:20 pm
I always tell new parents that babyhood are the easy years! Good luck with the crowded nest! And enjoy it while you are there. Nothing like a little noise and confusion to remind you how wonderful calm and quiet can be!
March 17, 2019 at 7:22 pm
That’s what we are noticing, if we want noise and chaos, we can create it, but we can shut it off too! When they come home, we can’t shut them off! 🙂 It is a wonderful time to be a parent, when their lives are busy, but not so filled with all the other “life” that will come! 🙂
March 17, 2019 at 7:33 pm
My brother and I are both in our late 30s and I know my mom is happiest when we are both home. She always wants us to stay the night and lures us with home cooking. Yes, being adults in the nest is a bit more crowded than when we were little, but it’s worth it, because…family.
March 17, 2019 at 7:35 pm
We keep telling our daughters, “Mom will cook for you,” and that does the trick! They are tired of their own cooking (or lack thereof), so it’s a good draw! 🙂 Thank you for sharing your thoughts tonight!
March 17, 2019 at 7:39 pm
I feel for you. I really thought that the oldest would graduate from college, find a job in her field of study or something and leave home. NO, she doesn’t want to move away and is really starting to drive me nuts. I also fear that concept that they won’t leave home.
March 17, 2019 at 7:43 pm
We have three more college semesters with the oldest, another three years with the youngest, so there’s time to help them fly. But, the way our economy is working right now, I’m not sure what they will do!
March 17, 2019 at 7:45 pm
Written eloquently and so true…go fly, come home and visit, but now is your time to go fly! 🙂 Enjoy their visits and know you’ll just have to spend the weekend after spring break catching up on sleep!
March 18, 2019 at 4:56 am
We could talk long about many points here. My nest was only briefly empty, currently being occupied by a rebounder. I seem to remember that empty was ok too.
March 18, 2019 at 12:11 pm
We’ll see what the next four years bring. 🙂