Empty Nest Syndrome
Jeremy, our oldest, has his fraternity initiation this week, so since he lives in the fraternity house, he has to stay at home this week. (There are benefits to going to college in your hometown.) When Jeremy is home we share a bathroom again. I went in this morning to take a shower and this is what I saw: Jeremy’s travel cosmetic bag. It was a sudden reality that I’m in a different stage of life. Cheryl and I are closer to the empty-nest period of life than we are from it. This time next year, after Nate graduates from high school, it will just be the two of us.
(Thankfully we are still in love with each other and enjoy each other’s company so much!)
Recently Cheryl and I watched the musical movie “Momma Mia”. I didn’t share with Cheryl at the time, but the song that tugged at my heart the most was entitled “Slipping Through My Fingers”. The lyrics have a line that says “The feeling that I’m losing her forever”. That’s the way I feel about my boys right now.
As pleasant as it sounds at times to have independence again, there’s a part of me that’s already dreading it; and I’m suddenly flooded with questions in my mind: Where did the time go? Did I take advantage of those years? Have I prepared them for life? Will they still want us to be an active part of their life when their gone? Another line in the movie says, “Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture and save it from the funny tricks of time…Slipping through my fingers…” Aren’t there times you’d like to “freeze the picture” with your children?
Still, I’m thankful for the men my boys are becoming. Last week a professor pulled Jeremy aside to compliment him on being “the spiritual influencer of his fraternity”. He truly cares for people. Nate is less relational than Jeremy, but has his own giftedness. He is already leading in more church environments than some pastors I know. If they continue the path they are on today, God will surely one day say, “Well done!” to their lives. In fact, I’m sure He already is saying that about them.
I’m in a different stage as a parent. I’m more reflective than I was when they were younger. I am becoming a sentimental dad; less rigid with them, actually more of a friend. I don’t want to teach them as much as just hang out with them. (Sounds like I’m getting ready to be a grandad some day….no time soon though.) Most of all, I truly feel I’m the one blessed to say they are my sons!
Glad to have the travel bag here…even if only for a week.
