<p>I run out of underwear before it’s time to do the laundry!</p>
<p>I can make it from S’s bedroom door to the bed without breaking my ankle or worse.</p>
<p>There are many more, of course, but I don’t want to ruin the fun.</p>
<p>Your turn!</p>
<p>I can walk through the family room without finding in soda cans to pick up.</p>
<p>I have time to read… fiction.</p>
<p>The TV is not on the soccer channel, nor is the volume blasting!</p>
<p>There are no dishes in the sink.</p>
<p>When I use the kids bathroom, there is actually toilet paper on the holder!</p>
<p>I can play the piano or the TV at 2 pm on a weekend and not worry that I’m disturbing someone who is sleeping.</p>
<p>We brought home leftovers from dinner last night and they were still in the fridge this morning.</p>
<p>Snowball-</p>
<p>Do we inhabit the same house, but in alternate universes? Must be, because I haven’t seen you here. And is the soccer you no longer see on the Spanish-language channel? En la cabeza. A la izquierda, Falta … Goooooooaaaaaaaaalllllll!</p>
<p>~mafool</p>
<p>I can sit on the coach without finding dirty socks.</p>
<p>There is absolutely no rush to get home from whatever I’m doing.</p>
<p>I don’t blanche at the total at the supermarket register.</p>
<p>I am not watching TV when I don’t want to.</p>
<p>Although the “empty-nest” is quite temporary, I don’t have to be anywhere at a specific time to pick anyone up.</p>
<p>I don’t have to worry about scheduling cars, meals, groceries, computers.</p>
<p>There are no kids padding around my house in the wee hours. “Hello cheers, nice nightie”.</p>
<p>I don’t worry as much. Out of sight, out of mind.</p>
<p>I check my email in the morning to see if my boys have written anything overnight.</p>
<p>I leave the office when I feel like it.</p>
<p>We eat dinner at 8 pm.</p>
<p>I go to the gym when I feel like it.</p>
<p>There is only helathy food in the fridge and the pantry. Their calorie laden favorites are gone.</p>
<p>I am losing weight.</p>
<p>Went to bed at 10 on a Friday night and slept a glorious 8 hours without waiting to hear the sound of their cars pulling safely in the driveway!</p>
<p>I smile when the phone rings, lovin’ the Saturday morning catch up calls!</p>
<p>I don’t trip over 10 pairs of shoes in my back hallway, but I do miss the energy of a house full of kids.</p>
<p>I don’t have to make a mad rush to clean up the living room when company is coming.</p>
<p>I no longer have to stock up on crackers (for one son) or lunchmeat and cheese (for the other).</p>
<p>The house is way too quiet!</p>
<p>The hour approaches 6 p.m. on this lovely Saturday night and I have only one thought in my head: What do I (me, moi) want to do tonight?</p>
<p>There is just as much gas in my car as there was the last time I drove it.</p>
<p>And the radio is still on the same station.</p>
<p>And I don’t have to adjust the seat or the mirrors.</p>
<p>Deja vu’ing back to my early dating years in high school, I keep willing the phone to ring.</p>
<p>We grilled steaks tonight and my husband said it felt weird not having to make sure one was rare.</p>
<p>My dog and washing machine are lonely.</p>
<p>There is no kid to tell that I am missing the other.</p>
<p>mafool- Yes the soccer is a spanish channel and I have a headache from all the chanting! Actually the one that watches the soccer channel is back at home for a year saving money while working full time. He is applying to medical schools so we figured it would be best that he stay at home. The soccer channel and Showtime were part of the deal if he didn’t get an apartment. I thought an extra $15 a month for cable was better than helping fund the apartment.</p>
<p>Other peoples’ schedules do not run my life. I do not have to be five places at one time (and during the dinner hour). </p>
<p>I use less gas for my car. </p>
<p>Every time the phone rings, I think it is one of my kids (that’s a good thing though). </p>
<p>We have gone into the moving business (the last two months or so have felt that way).</p>
<p>We went to the HS football game to see OUR friends. </p>
<p>Everything is still where I put it.</p>
<p>We have to figure out how to buy less milk.</p>
<p>the toilet seat is always down now that S is away</p>