Empty Nester Navigating

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re doing well and had a very Merry Christmas whether Empty Nester or not.

As some of you know, I’ve written about life as an Empty Nester lately. I’m sort of manic with planning the rest of my life. Getting old, gray, sedentary, fat and frumpy are not options for this chick. A day doesn’t pass that an options tape plays over and over:

Volunteer
Get a job
Go back to school
Draw and paint again
Beg girls to blog with me until I die
Hope to be a babysitting Grandma soon
Travel far away so I don’t think about it so much

Around Christmas this year an eighth prospect was laid on my heart: Mother my 90-year-old Mother.

Recap/Backstory:

In 2020, the girls and I are seeking a stable blog theme for Triangle Park ATL (TPA): Empty Nester/Newlywed Professional/GATech/Patent Law(?)Student is our evolving foundation. Intermingled within will be whatever else intertwines our lives.

While we were coming up with our focus I got to thinking…I did a pretty good job raising my girls…with Jeff…if I do [humbly] say so myself… But, then I asked myself: at what point do we truly stop raising them?

When they leave the nest
When they’re financially independent
At 25, when they’re brains fully develop
Never??

Mom, Diane, turned 90 on December 27, 2019. Holy 9-0-oly!

She is a fit, independent woman who loves people, animals, antiques, life and God.

Things mom still does:

Pays bills
Manages her home
Prepares her meals
Sends Christmas cards
Drives herself everywhere

Things mom doesn’t do or never* has done:

Use a cell phone*
Use the Internet*
Eat sugary sweets
Drive to my house
Plan beyond an hour or two

Mom and I go out to dinner from time to time, just the two of us. A couple weeks ago as we prepared to leave for a restaurant she had difficulty tying her shoelaces. Her finger dexterity isn’t what it used to be. I offered to help but she insisted on doing it her self.

This past week we had another girl’s night out. As we prepared to leave she had trouble tying a drawstring. She declined help. After a few minutes she changed her mind and let me tie a bow for her.

What to do for the rest of life as an empty nester? Like flying into Hartsfield-Jackson in inclement weather, I’m in a holding pattern. But having a new, eighth prospect (Mother my Mother) makes it all very exciting – an unexpected Santa surprise. I never taught my children what to expect and how to proceed when mom and dad reach – uhh — 9-0, time to get busy teaching.

Our nest may be empty, but the teaching by example part is alive and well.

Thank you for reading!

Love, Shelley