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Tag Archive 'empty nest'

Travel Day

It’s here. Again. A day of last minute laundry and packing, goodbyes, airports. The house, suddenly so quiet, as my teenager prepares to fly back to college. To begin his sophomore year.
It was an evening of more loads of wash than I can count, the heap of luggage in the living room finally emptied, in [...]

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Cake

Yes, there was one more teen party last night. Yes, I heard it. No, I wasn’t annoyed; I managed to sleep five hours anyway, and that’s good enough for the day’s mission: cake.
Coffee
I’ve been under the weather for a number of days, and I had plans to meet a friend for coffee last week. It [...]

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Who doesn’t want options, when it comes to starting out? Who doesn’t want options when it comes to starting over?
In my morning reading, this caught my eye: 10 Great Cities for Young Adults. How could I not check it out, thinking about my own sons and where they might light in a few years, pursuing [...]

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He’s taken the car. Already. He’s been traveling in France, Belgium and Holland for two months, home for eight hours, and he’s leaving already.
Yup. That’s about right.
But he asked politely, as usual. And first he hauled out bags of trash, asked what else he could do to help, and gave me a hug. Smart kid.
And [...]

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Flashbacks, futures

The hotel room
The popcorn ceiling, valance curtains, brightly colored abstract images in gilt frames hanging over each double bed. Six hangers on a pole by the door, with its emergency exit and checkout instructions posted beneath a tiny keyhole. There is olive carpeting with a small pattern, striped wallpaper in the beige bathroom with [...]

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Home Alone

It is a long weekend in the States. A holiday. Memorial Day.
For some, it is a day spent in realization of this occasion. But for most, this weekend announces the arrival of summer vacations, of travel, of family time. Carefree or carefully constructed schedules. A break in routine. A break, of any sort.
Transitions
It has been [...]

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Sweets

It was always a special morning. It required early rising, a hurried glance at the sky, and readying the chocolate eggs, the plastic eggs, and the painted hard-boiled eggs.
There was coordination with other parents on the street – always a conspiracy concocted to keep our children distracted, and of course, a backup plan in case [...]

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Leaving… on a jet plane…

Grab the passport, pack in an hour, and hop on a plane – for a fabulous destination!
Oh yes. I used to do it in a heart beat, with no worries and a great deal of efficiency. Moreover, I was always excited to travel – especially if it meant the airport (great [...]

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Who are you? What are you?
Silly questions? Maybe not. I know who my “dream self” is – and what she does. And then there’s reality. So, when asked who you are or what you are, how do you answer? Is your response automatic and factual, or does it come from a place of self-examination?
Vital statistics
If [...]

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Parenting from a peripheral planet

The thing is – we remember when they were completely dependent on us, and we were the center of their universe.  
That makes the shift to the periphery a struggle. For us, not them.
A teenager’s world may be built on a foundation lovingly laid, brick by brick, by one parent, two parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or [...]

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