Empty-nest Mom

Hubs and I knew this moment was coming. We were even a bit excited for it. Sure we miss the grown kids, but we are so proud of their motivation and work ethic.

The nest began emptying six years ago and the fourth one flew out one month ago. 'What are we doing with our time and space now?' you might be thinking. Honestly, we have spread out. I got one room and made it into a lovely guest room...but I put my off-season clothes in the closet. No more traipsing to and from the attic for seasonal clothes changes! Hubs took over the middle bedroom and is in the process of making it into his office. He also moved his things to the little closet in that room, and irons his clothes for school in there. He eventually wants to build a murphy bed to put along one wall, but for now, we are content and making due.

We are going through multiple changes at the moment, so we aren't rushing about frantically. Instead, we are pacing ourselves. So many thoughts and ideas have been swirling around in our heads that we want to give them time to percolate and settle before acting on them. We have time, really, we do. I know we are not guaranteed tomorrow, but we are not rushing things. It is just not worth it.

We lost my father-in-law last month after his two-decade-survival of prostate cancer. He was so thrilled to outlive the doctors predictions by more than 15 years. He is proud that he made it to his 80th birthday celebration back in February. Over 200 friends and family celebrated with him. It was glorious.

As I have pondered the direction for this tenth year of my blog, mothering and working as an empty-nest mom are the things that are on my heart and fill my days, now. These are the things I will share in the future. I plan to continue sharing about my hobbies and loves, but I may post on meatier concerns from time to time.
For example, what happened to the Titus 2 model of older women mentoring younger women? It exists, but more often than not, we might witness younger moms in leadership rolls in churches. This is not evil, just backwards. I was one of those young mothering and mentoring moms over ten years ago, and I burned out...or gave up for various reasons. I am not sure that the church model as it exists is appropriate. I think it sets us up to fail before our time. Then when our actual, appropriate mentoring time comes, we are done and want nothing to do with the old model that burned us.

I hope to flesh out some of these thoughts and would love for my readers to come along and give input! I apologize for the dry spell this year. Again, most of it is due to Poppy's illness progressing at the end of last year, and being busy getting the last one ready to leave the nest.

Sending Happy May Day wishes out to you all! Have a wonderful Spring!

Javamom