On Being an Empty Nester

Well, my boys went back to college on Sunday after a very cold, very busy spring break with them working most of the time.

Sigh. I hate when they leave.

Right now would be a good time for me to eloquently describe the bittersweet emotions of being an empty nester – about the loneliness of an empty house with no pitter-pats, the bittersweet passage of time, and the proud sorrow of knowing your children are spreading their wings to fly. After all, I am a writer. It would be a very writer-y thing to do. But I don’t feel like being writer-y. And my boys don’t pitter pat, they stomp. So I’m just going to sum up my thoughts on being an empty nester with this:

It sucks.

It sucks that I don’t know what my kids are doing every day – if they’re getting enough sleep, eating right, or studying enough. It sucks that I’m no longer there to guide them, to help them,  and it sucks even more how they’re getting along just fine without me guiding them, helping them. It sucks not being able to go back in time and be a better mother – to cook more homemade meals, spend more time together, and worry less about non-important things, and you know what sucks the most?

It sucks that after seven months of both my boys being in college, it now feels “normal” when they’re not home.

It sucks, it sucks, it sucks.

Moving on.

After they left, I had good intentions of plotting out a new mystery novel since my hubs was working, but instead, I made a Redbox run and plopped on the sofa with a beer. First up was American Hustle which was … eh, too slow for my taste. Jennifer Lawrence was absolutely brilliant, however, as was Eric Bane’s comb-over.

Next up, was a movie that made my dear husband cringe from the title alone, Austenland. It was really cute! Jennifer Coolidge was as sparkly as ever, and now I want to read the book to see how it compares. Loved the extra fun they had during the credits:

Afterwards, I finally watched Catching Fire with Bob! Absolutely loved it, but I had to pause the movie frequently to tell him about things they left out from the book so he understood what was going on. That only reminded me of the many conversations I had with my sons about books over the years which reminded me that they were gone which made me sad all over.

It sucks being an empty nester. It really does.