We are empty nesters, if you don’t count the two dogs. For the past 18 years my daughter was nearly omnipresent in our home, so it is strange to sit here on a Sunday evening knowing she is not in the house. There have not been many Sunday evenings the past 18 years when that was true.
I asked a friend, a father of four, what his experience with the empty nest was. He was a few months into it. He said, “Robby, it’s awesome!”
It feels quiet to me. Not that Sydney made a lot of noise or anything. But the place seems emptier. The dogs are quiet. Jeanie is quiet. The TV isn’t on. Only the dull hum of a fan on this hot evening and the tapping of my keyboard. No muffled sound of a Netflix show from the bedroom down. the hall.
Is it awesome? I’m not there yet. But it isn’t bad. More of my life will be spent living as an empty nester than not. Our marriage was 13 years of childlessness, and now 18 years with a child in the nest, and I hope many, many good years with the so-called “empty nest.”
On a run not long ago, I daydreamed about the arrival of grandchildren some day, Lord willing, down the road. I think I will like that. I think I might be an ok grandpa.
