{"id":1170,"date":"2011-07-21T12:30:28","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T16:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hnetalk.com\/?p=1170"},"modified":"2011-07-21T12:30:28","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T16:30:28","slug":"empty-nest-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/2011\/07\/21\/empty-nest-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Empty Nest Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>SPICE:\u00a0<\/strong> That’s right\u00a0– Empty Nest Syndrome.\u00a0 It\u2019s when all your little birdies fly away.\u00a0 I\u2019m so in that moment right now. You see, I have three little birdies; two of which are getting ready to fly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And exactly WHO<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>gave them permission to do that?\u00a0 I know they didn\u2019t ask ME<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t anyone care how I feel about this?!\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not ready.\u00a0 I\u2019m not ready.\u00a0 I\u2019m not ready.\u00a0 (Picture me throwing a temper tantrum. See example included here.)\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I mean what the heck?\u00a0 When did they grow up?\u00a0 I missed it while I was blinking!!!!<\/p>\n

Here’s the thing.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got so many conflicting feelings about this moment in life. \u00a0On the one hand, I\u2019m very happy that they are about to begin their new adventures.\u00a0 I can be logical about this.\u00a0\u00a0They are ready to leave home and see what they will make of their lives. And I am proud to know that I\u2019ve raised children that are strong in character and capable of making independent decisions and moving forward on those decisions with conviction.\u00a0 I\u2019m also thankful that both of them are going to have an income.\u00a0 That\u2019s not a small thing for this generation.\u00a0 A large percentage of children either return home to their parents after college because they cannot find a job or cannot afford to support themselves on the salary they are paid.\u00a0 So for that, I am very thankful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, I have a surprising feeling I didn\u2019t know was coming.\u00a0 I feel\u2026what is it\u2026.abandoned.\u00a0 It’s like this –\u00a0you spend so much time and energy as a parent just giving, giving, giving.\u00a0 Your time is spent worrying about them, your money goes to provide them with food, a home, clothing, fun things, necessary things, and all your efforts, energy, advice and emotions are focused on them.\u00a0 I know<\/em><\/strong> that growing up and going out on their own is<\/span><\/em><\/strong> the ultimate goal.\u00a0 But when you get them there, it\u2019s a little bit like having the rug pulled out from underneath you.<\/p>\n

Plus, I\u2019m going to miss<\/span><\/em><\/strong> them.\u00a0 They are my buddies.\u00a0 They are fun to have around.\u00a0 Everything I do is better with their company.\u00a0 What a loss.\u00a0 (I think I need to explain here that they aren\u2019t just moving into their own apartments in the same town or even state.\u00a0 Eldest child is moving to Japan (yes.\u00a0 JAPAN.\u00a0 The whole other side of the whole planet!) and middle child is joining the Coast Guard.\u00a0 Will he be stationed in New England afterwards?\u00a0 I doubt it.\u00a0 SO, yeah.\u00a0 Can I get an \u201cOMG?\u201d Can you give me a little sympathy here?)<\/p>\n

Oh! I just thought of it! You know what I might need?\u00a0 A ceremony!\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 I need a\u00a0Rite of Passage event.\u00a0 Something where I give them their Official Adult<\/span> diploma and they give me a Good Parent<\/span> one in return.\u00a0 Then we can throw our hats in the air and take pictures and have a cake!\u00a0 I think I’ll start planning that tonight. \"\"<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s my story.\u00a0 I\u2019m depressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, hey! \u00a0I do have one little birdie left to obsess over\u2026\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Come to Momma!<\/p>\n

Tell me \u2013 How was this for you?\u00a0 What did you feel? How did you survive<\/em>?!!? I need advice! Or medication!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPICE:\u00a0 That’s right\u00a0– Empty Nest Syndrome.\u00a0 It\u2019s when all your little birdies fly away.\u00a0 I\u2019m so in that moment right now. You see, I have three little birdies; two of which are getting ready to fly.\u00a0 And exactly WHO gave them permission to do that?\u00a0 I know they didn\u2019t ask ME.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t anyone care how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,13,15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creative-inspiration","category-general-health-care-educational-series","category-goals-and-motivation","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZxW-iS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}