No Empty Nest Here!

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I have four boys and I'm a stay-at-home mom. It's the job I've always wanted. Doesn't pay well and the hours aren't great, but I never wanted to be anything else. And there have been days, believe me, when I questioned that decision from sunup to sundown. But there were more days when I felt like the luckiest person in the world.

My boys are mostly grown now. They are 27, 24 and 21. The oldest two share an apartment, and the other is a senior in college. We have empty bedrooms. The phone doesn't ring much. The washing machine actually has time to dry out between loads. The grocery bill is way down, and so are the water and gas bills. I could be REALLY depressed...

But that fourth boy is still at home. He was a 40th birthday present from my husband, who said "some day I would thank him." I found out about him on my 40th birthday, and that afternoon, my new eye doctor asked if I needed bifocals! "Well, you are 40, you know." The thought of carrying graham crackers and pacifiers in my purse again brought tears to my eyes. It was harder to get up in the night with each baby, so I wondered if this one was going to feed and change himself in the middle of the night. He was delivered in that brief period when hospital stays were limited to 24 hours for deliveries. That is not enough time. At 40, you need a week!

But Uncle Lynn was right. I have thanked him lots of times over the years, but now that the 21 year old is back at college, and the two oldest are settled, we were that close to an empty nest!

And that's not something I'm looking forward to! So thanks, honey. Again. Now let's go watch a soccer game!