Rights of Passage and the Empty Nest

Rights of Passage

We all have them throughout our life, we’re born, we crawl our first steps, first day of school, graduations from kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school, college graduation, , getting a drivers license, voting, moving out on our own, marriage, career, children and for me one of the most difficult the empty nest.

Oh how wonderful it was when the nest was full, the boys running around, laughing, playing, fighting and just being boys. The busy schedules with school, sports and all the activities. Our home constantly full with our kids and all the wonderful kids who called this a home away from home. Those were exhausting but oh so wonderful days. Days filled with the joy, worry, and exhaustion of being a full time mom.

Now I look into the last empty bedroom and realize those days are over and we are all embarking on a new chapter in life. Yes it was hard when each one left the nest, if felt like a part of my heart was being ripped out but at the same time I was so happy for my sons. Each one has become and amazing man with a bright future ahead. One is doing well in his career and has a beautiful young lady by his side, another graduated from college, has been married almost two years and doing very well in his chosen career. Our youngest is also doing well in his new career and has now crossed the threshold into living on his own. We are so happy that our young men are grown and making their lives but for us parents it is bittersweet. We must let our children go so they can have full and wonderful lives but at the same time there is such an emptiness when the nest is empty.

I’ve been told that this transition can be difficult and that staying busy helps. For me the problem is busy with what. For the past 29 years I have been a full time mom and wife. Everything in our lives revolved around our kids and now they are all grown and out on their own. I’m sure at some point I will have my own story to share to help another mother cope with and live beyond this right of passage of the empty nest but for now, this mommy is missing her babies.