<p>This conversation so neatly encapsulated the teen-going-off-to-college mindset that I just had to post it. (I’m single and DD is an only child.)</p>
<p>DD (in sad, concerned tone): Mom, I’ve been thinking that we should get a dog because I don’t know what you are going to do next year without me here.</p>
<p>ME: Nah, I’d like a dog, but I don’t want to have to worry about getting home to the dog.</p>
<p>DD (in horrified, accusatory tone): You’re not going to be HOME? WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO BE?</p>
<p>It doesn’t change when they get there either lol…</p>
<p>H and I were at a Maroon 5 concert Sat night (awesome, I might add, except for the 9 year olds in front of us)…we send sophomore D a picture. Her response: “You went to a concert? without me?”</p>
<p>When S2 was getting ready to leave for school S3 ,who is two years younger, saw the writing on the wall and felt the white hot spotlight being moved his way. There was no one else to diffuse my attention and in a desperate attempt to save himself he begged me to get a puppy. Mom, you need this puppy, something to love and take care of now that we’re all grown and leaving… The desperation in his eyes was pitiful. He’s now learned that being the ‘only child’ has quite a few benefits and doesn’t seem to mind a bit. ;)</p>
<p>They want to go off on their own life, but they want yours to stay just the same…which also means not doing things without them and generally going on with life.</p>
<p>I posted a picture on Facebook last week of my husband and I on a golf course during vacation. My S1 (21) promptly responded with a caption to the picture: “Exhibit A: Middle aged empty nesters in the their natural habitat.” To which I promptly responded that he could make fun all he wanted but we were in the process of spending his inheritance :-).</p>
<p>Love it! Yes mom. Your job is to remain stationary and on call until further notice …lol</p>
<p>Underneath that teen exterior of “taking on the world” lives the little kid who wants to be reassured mom is just around the corner with a hug and a smile when life gets a little scary. Makes that step out the front door that much easier for many…</p>
<p>I’ll never forget one of the first weekends that my middle son came home from college. He called me at 11 p.m asking “where are you”? I responded that I was out and was unaware that I had a curfew.</p>
<p>OP has a kid with imagination and truly connected to you. Mine was thinking about her future, did not occur to her to imagine mine. Maybe because there are 2 of us that she has left behind, maybe because she is the younger one, so we have an experience. However, I did have hard time filling the hours after work, but I succeded. No doggy either…not my thing. However, when I know that she is visiting, I definitely make sure to be at home, so that she does not come to an empty house. If I absolutely cannot, I have warned her about empty house every single time. I do not like to imagine her coming home and nobody is there, but sometime I just cannot leave my job earlier.</p>
<p>My D wanted us to get some pets–kittens, dogs, whatever. We said, “No way, no how!” We’re happy to be able to come and go as we please, including LOTS of meals out whenever the whim strikes us. She & S finally noticed that we do seem to go out quite a lot and even travel! They are shocked when they call us and we’re nowhere to be found, to their great surprise! They’re also surprised when they call and hear a lot of background noise which makes them very curious. <grin> We’ve been very busy and happy!</grin></p>
<p>I’m dealing with this with my daughter right now too. She’s in her third year, you’d think she would have a clue by now. But she’s coming home next week for spring break and said she doesn’t want it to be like when she was in high school. I tried to explain that we have lots of stuff to do when she’s not here and we kind of put our life on hiatus when she’s home so we can spend time with her. We even have a new circle of friends which she has been introduced to. I think intellectually she knows we have moved on but emotionally she thinks life at home is still the same as when she lived with us. I do have to remember to get my clothes out of her closet since I use her room as my dressing room. We have pets, and I agree, sometimes they are more trouble then they’re worth - we let her look after them when she’s home :)</p>
<p>We told D that we won’t give our new puppy her room until she officially moves out. Our D never likes us doing anything cool or going anywhere on vacation without her. When she was at summer camp, we went to John Mayer, Black Eyed Peas and Wiz Khalifa all in one week and she was like… WHAT? They can’t imagine we were ever young! Age is only a number. Thanks for the thread… It gave me a chuckle!</p>
<p>My son is 29, so has been out of the house for years; that said, we still refer to the kids bedrooms as S and D’s bedrooms. About 2 years ago our oldest dog decided she liked my son’s bedroom as she could see all the coming and goings of the neighborhood through his windows. She has now taken to sleeping on his bed and their is a permanent indentation of the dog as he has a featherbed topper on his mattress. Well the room is no longer referred to as son’s room, it is not the dog’s room If either my husband or I are looking for the dog, we both will say, check her room!!</p>
If either my husband or I are looking for the dog, we both will say, check her room!!</p>