Or it is really sad. When my youngest kid went to college a few years back, it felt so WEIRD to be home with just my husband. I didn’t know what to do with all the extra time. It was really hard. And sad. But I was so happy for my kids! It’s like a lot about motherhood/parenthood. A mixed bag.
It took me a while to catch on and start to enjoy the extra time, the way my husband and I could relax and not worry about anyone at home. We let our dinners become not so planned. It started to feel like it would be OK.
But for me at least, I have a hard time with transitions. I get stuck in the past. I rue things way too long. It’s just the way I am. So I would get sad in the baby aisle at the grocery store or when the high school emailed me something about upcoming concerts (both my kids were in all of them and marching band and I was in the band parent’s association for 7 years, most of which I held an office).
We were really lucky, both kids went to colleges within an hour from our house so we could go to their band concerts at college. This helped to ease the sting.
It got a lot worse when my daughter moved to Australia in 2020 to be with her fiance and they married soon after. She thought she would be back by Christmas and she would clean out her room. Turns out it’s been almost 2 and a half years — we were not…
