Preparing for Empty Nest

[Antonia]

Our son is getting married March 27th and I think I need some advice on how to prepare for our empty nest. Anyone who has experienced this, I would appreciate your thoughts. I'm sure there are good and bad points to the empty nest. Please tell me what some of the GOOD ones are! I need something to look forward to! It will just be me and DH and our three house dogs. Do you still go to WDW once the kids are gone?? I can't even begin to plan a vacation for the summer because I don't know what to expect life to be like!!!

 

[Cruisin]

Antonia, I don't have an empty nest but I hope to have one some day. My son is 20 and my daughter is 16.
I hope you will find that you enjoy your empty nest, time to do what you want for yourself, without worrying about everybody else's needs.
As for the Disney vacations, why not. We will certainly go to Disney without the kids, in fact we just did in November. We went with my parents.
Try to look at the empty nest as embarking upon a new adventure in your life. Enjoy this new phase of your life.

 

[nativetxn]

I never suffered the empty nest syndrome. I sort of like it just being me and dh these days.

I wish I had some sage advice for you.

 

[FloridaCat]

The positive side of the empty nest was my late Wife & I felt truly married and could finally enjoy each other. All the responsibilities of parenthood behind us allowed us to do the many things that had to be put on hold or work around while raising the children. We opened a small company which had been her dream, which she would not do while the children were home as she did not want to cheat then out of any of our time.

 

[crs7568]

Sorry that I don't have advice for you but I feel your pain and wanted to give you some support. My girls are still very young but it always makes me sad to think of the day when they are not living with us anymore.

On the positive side, if your son is leaving to get married then it might not be too long before your house will be full of grandchildren. That is the best of both worlds...kids when you want them and then send them to their parents when you want some alone time.

Good luck. I would suggest taking up some new hobby or maybe taking a class that you have always wanted to take.

 

[Linda Talbot]

Hubby and I have been empty nesters for 4 years now. When our daughter announced she was getting married, we were thrilled. We had raised her and educated her and felt it was time for her to have a life of her own. We are very fortunate that she is living in the same town as us, and that she and her husband are close to us. We try never to meddle in their life, only give advice when asked, and to be available when we are needed. No grandchildren, yet, but hoping for some soon.
As far as empty nesting goes, we are LOVING it. I would never have thought I would be saying that, but there is so much life to live and so many things to do that we are always in the planning stages of a new adventure. We travel more. We are less structured to a schedule of vacation time, days off, etc. Even our daily activities have changed. Meal times are more flexible and what and when I cook are different. And we have discovered that if we just have a hot dog for dinner, that is okay, too.
We have a standing joke with our daughter, her dad told her when she moved out to always call before popping in on us, we did not want her to be embarrassed if she found us in a compromising situation, haha.
But in all seriousness, empty nesting is wonderful. There are days that we miss the full house with friends over, the television blaring, music blaring, and the fridge always empty, but it is now her time to live her life to the fullest and to enjoy being a wife and hopefully very soon a mother. And it also helps that we are very fond of our son-in-law.
Hope this helps.

 

[Linda Talbot]

Sorry about this second post, but as far WDW is concerned, we find that we enjoy it just as much as when we went with our daughter. I think we even plan MORE trips now than before.

 

[Chattyaholic]

I had to go through the empty nest syndrome twice with our DD.
Once when she went to college and then again when she got married. It was hard to see her go, especially the second time.
But, I quickly got used to it. I can clean the house and it stays that way awhile. DH and I have more time together and that's the most important thing. Children grow up and leave the nest, but your spouse is there forever. We love having time together, going out to eat, movies, etc. Camping in the summer, Florida or a cruise in the winter. No worries. It's great!! Once you get used to it, I hope you start enjoying your empty nest.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Hi all,

We've been empty nesters since '99 when second DS graduated college, and he's living in Venezuela, and will be there for at least two years. Prior to this he's lived in California and Louisiana, these are work related moves. Oldest DS and family live in Boston, so we're in Ohio without any family. BUT it's a wonderful life! In fact, we JUST bought into DVC, went there for a weekend in December, and are counting the days for a Vero Beach trip, again just the two of us. We're planning a huge family gathering at WDW for all to celebrate DM's 85th birthday in December.

We plan family get-togethers, open invitation, who can come are welcome. We have a Christening coming up in Boston, and it turns out even DS can come from Venezuela, that's a blessing! The get-together after that will be at the Grand Canyon for Memorial weekend, my sister, mother, cousin and a friend will join us, maybe some more, haven't gotten the final count.

These are years leading up to DH's retirement, and without the family around, DH realizes that he doesn't want to retire completely. He's been looking into p/t jobs that he would like, he wants a reason to get up in the morning, but not something that comes with lots of stress. This is great, he is planning for the future. I do volunteer work and teach p/t. We are looking into parts of the country where we could retire that fit our plans. This is fun. Our friends are retiring, and we visit them. These are friendships that were very much put on "hold" while we were all raising families.

Dream, now is the time!

Bobbi