Home Alone

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with a dear friend who sent her last child to college and their house was now an empty nest.

When William left for college, people would ask how we were doing about the whole syndrome thing. We quickly learned to just say how much we missed him. That usually stopped any more discussion.

Over lunch, I told my friend the truth: We loved being alone in the house. We didn’t have to close bathroom and bedroom doors, cook large dinners, have certain food in the house anymore, be home at a certain time, less laundry, we could meet for dinner before going home, we could take off for a weekend or a long drive and so much more.

We mostly noticed that it was great to not wear a parent hat everyday. We reverted back to the couple we were before we had a child.

But, if you say all this to people, they look at you like you didn’t like your child, or he was a difficult teen and you just wanted him gone. All not true. We adored him and he really liked us.

My friend started to smile. They were feeling the same way and beginning to really enjoy being just the two of them together again. Yes, it was great to have everyone home for the holidays but it was nice to get back to just the two of them.

Our empty nests are just fine, thank you very much.