My Empty Nest

 

In a couple of weeks it will be two years since I became an empty nester.  That first year was a little difficult for me, not only because my youngest child flew the coop, but it was also my first year of retirement and I had just retired a few months earlier.  Literally everything about my life had changed all at once.  Now fast forward to present day and what do I think?  Well, I LOVE BEING AN EMPTY NESTER!

 

To be perfectly honest, and please don’t take this wrong, I wouldn’t go back if you paid me good money.  I’ve done my time.  I absolutely love being on my own for the first time in over 37 years.  In my younger days I only lived alone on my own for about a year before I got married and started my own little family.  After my divorce I always had a child to care for and I really loved being a mom.  It is hands down the best job I’ve ever held and it brought me the most joy.  But now, I’m on my own and I just love it.

 

Over the past two years I’ve slowly been going through the spaces in my home and making them my own.  To most people my home appears to be the same in most respects, but as time has gone on the evidence of teenagers has been slipping away and there is more of me present here now.  I am unashamedly creating my own home throughout this house.

 

I love living alone.  I come and go as I please and the best part is that when I do come home everything is as I left it.  I eat what I want, when I want.  I clean the house and it stays that way.  I have the room to do my projects and crafts now.  My home has become peaceful and tranquil.  I have fallen in love with my house all over again.

 

I move much slower than I used to now because I am no longer in a hurry to do anything.  I’ve given up multi tasking.  If I don’t feel like doing something, then I don’t do it.  Laundry will always wait for me.  Housework too.  I no longer have to work my guts out in order to keep up and stay on top of things.  I love that if a friend calls me to go for coffee or to grab lunch that I can drop what I am doing and just go.  I love that I have time for my friends.

 

If I want I can walk around the house naked, leave the bathroom door wide open, talk to myself, sing and dance (I’m not very good at either), vacuum or watch TV late at night and no one cares.  I can eat leftover spaghetti for breakfast and cereal for dinner if I want to.  I have very few rules and I don’t have to set good examples anymore.  I don’t have to watch what I say.  I can swear if I want to.  I can have opinions without someone else telling me why I shouldn’t think that way.  The cat rarely objects.  I don’t have to explain myself.

 

Do I miss my children?  Of course, just not every single day.  They are no longer my priority like they once were.  Highly important, but now so am I.  I am embracing this particular time in my life and loving every minute of it.  It is a good place to be at the moment.  I think I’ll stay a while.