Empty Nest

[Singersmom07]

<p>

took us a while, but after D was gone, we FINALLY remembered how to occasionally act impulsively. Jumping in the car on weekends and just driving “God knows where” for a weekend. Remembering the ADVANTAGES of not having a kid around.

But we still have the old small dog so we STILL can’t go anywhere on a whim. Someone has to arrange for the dog to be taken care of while we are gone. He is too old to adjust to the travel. Don’t get the dog until you don’t want to travel a lot. A lot of places you can’t go with them. </p>

<p>Then of course the boomerangs came back - on #3 boomerang. Only advantage is he can take care of the dog when he is not working.</p>

[toneranger]

<p>We have our grad staying with us after 4 empty-nest years. And an old dog…who helped to fill that empty house when he left. Of course, Dear Dog started chewing our ww carpets at that time. Plate-sized holes. Ack. We now have hard-wood floors. </p>

<p>Anyway, returning grad now watches dear dog when we go away on weekends. Pretty cool and good for the budget too.</p>

[Northstarmom]

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/681300-so-what-do-you-do-empty-nest.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/681300-so-what-do-you-do-empty-nest.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[eggmom]

<p>I found that after 20 years of no houseplants and killing everything I tried to grow, I enjoyed the nurturing aspect of keeping some potted plants. Now I have a nice herb garden outside, too. </p>

<p>DH continues his volunteering with various youth groups and is even going on a summer canoeing expedition with a group that does not include DS.</p>

<p>It’s different. We both went through periods of being sad and lonely, but we get along better and have started enjoying things as a couple.</p>

[kpmom06]

<p>UMDAD: Hopefully you’ve checked out the Service Academy forum for whichever academy your s is attending. There is no gradual move to college, where you can still contact each other–instead there is an abrupt severing from home, although contact will get better as time goes one. My s went to a SA, has since graduated, but it was much different than when my d left for college. Everyone here has had some good ideas, but please read throught the SA forums, there is a lot of support to be had there since yours is not the usual college situation.</p>