Inevitable changes..

It was dinner time, and John??was grilling hamburgers in the patio. The two of us ate alone at our square dinette, high top table .. and that’s when it hit me, a knot in my throat.. “This is our near future”.

Kenny was at baseball practice, and Ana was at an amusement park with her best friend, who recently got her driver’s license.

This would be the last of five summers of every-weekend tournaments with a travel baseball team. Time full of good memories of the four of us on the road sharing one hotel room, and kids complaining about our snoring.

Next month Kenny will be off to college, and Ana will probably get her driver’s license in three months.

Kenny will visit home from time to time, and Ana will not need us to drive her places anymore.

I will have to adjust our menus to fit three of us.

It seems like it was yesterday .. wait, it was yesterday! When my husband and I did not have (o make?) time for ourselves, everything revolved around our kids and work.

I do not think anything prepares us for what is next. Just like we are learning on the go to be parents, we are going to be learning how to let our children go to pursue their own cause; trusting that all these years under our wings, we have provided a strong foundation for them to keep building on.

Good news is that although Kenny is starting a new chapter soon, we have two more years before we are totally empty nesters.

During this time, while we enjoy our daughter at home, we will come up with a plan to integrate our jobs and our “after kids” relationship, and start a smooth transition getting into some older hobbies, maybe some new, and doing more things together.. this way, our dinner will not bring a sad sense of emptiness, but good memories and an optimistic future outlook.

Tell me .. what have you done differently after being an empty nester?