It’s been an interesting 24 hours. Hubs and I got a glimpse at life as empty nesters. We didn’t plan it, even though our calendars knew it was coming. We were suddenly alone in our house from 5:30 am Thursday until 11 am Friday. It was fabulous.
Since Boy is out of town for baseball and Girl is is either working or “having a sleepover with my friends because mom we are all separating in eight weeks to go to college,” the house is rather empty. When we woke Thursday morning, it was me, Hubs and Dog.
Huh. We quizzically looked at each other before getting out of bed. Almost like a morning after look of ‘Um, who are you and where am I?” But it was a bit odd as we were both a bit unsure of what to do with this newfound freedom in our own house.
So, typical of any married couple of nearly 20 years we simultaneously did a little jig of joy and then, went on as normal. For a bit.
I noticed, as I went about my day, I was relatively stress free. I made the decision that Hubs was taking me out to dinner, which meant no trip to the grocery store. I also realized I didn’t have to go to the store because we had no more granola bars, apple juice, chocolate chip bagels or frozen taquitos – Hubs and I don’t eat or drink any of it.
I noticed the dishwasher didn’t need to be unloaded or even run. Another chore not needing to be done. More free time. More alone time.
I love my alone time. I get it quite a bit – but not really in my own house with NO responsibility to anyone but me! No rides needed, no food to prepare, no looking for lost spikes or missing wallets. Nada. Just me. And Dog. Dog doesn’t need me to find things for her.
My extra time allowed me an extra long walk with Dog and an extended and peaceful trip to IKEA. I live 45 minutes from IKEA – there is normally no such thing as a quick trip there because I’m always needing to get home for something or someone. Not Thursday – nope. I got to go, shop and browse. At. My. Leisure.
It gets better. I got home late in the day and did a load of laundry. It didn’t feel like a chore. I washed and folded and put away. And it was 5:00. Why could I do this? Because no one was home needing dinner! No one was home, period!
When Hubs got home, we lingered and talked and decided to wing it as to where we’d go to dinner. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. We got in at a little Italian place, had two glasses of wine and went for ice cream later. We walked, we talked. It felt like vacation.
I wish I could wrap this up with a story of hot sex in our empty house – we teased about it at dinner – but that didn’t happen. I think we were both so surprised and stunned by the quiet and aloneness that by the time we got home, sated from the wine and the ice cream, we were too drunk on freedom to do anything else. Kind of a bummer, but we’ll talk about that in a later post.
Now many of you veteran empty nesters may be shaking your heads with an all knowing nod thinking “Sure, it’s great now but just wait till they’re gone full time, then it won’t be so fabulous.” Oh I know, I know.
I write often about how tough it is to let go of our kiddos. I know I will miss my first born madly when she leaves for college in August. And I know I will feel some loneliness. And I am not wishing the time away.
But. But. Today, I got a nice preview of what life may be like with me, Hubs and Dog. And I gotta say, the preview makes me want to see the full show.
How about you? Are you an empty nester? What do you love and what is tough? Let me know in the comments below.
Related Post: Sometimes I don’t like my teenagers
Follow You Know Neen on Facebook and Twitter.
You Know Neen 