Ravings of the Occasionally Opinionated

Empty Nest Syndrome

As of yesterday evening, my wife and I are empty-nesters. I drove Garrett to the airport, where he left for Warsaw for 5 days, and thence to Israel. Meanwhile, Alice drove the twins to sleepaway camp. While packing Wednesday, we decided we would have dinner together that night. I had always imagined being overjoyed at being "on our own" again, and hadn't really understood the empty-nest syndrome, but thinking about our special last supper as a family made me sad and actually brought a tear to my eye. There must be a special parent gene triggered by children leaving home. It wasn't to be a happy vacation after all. I was actually sad. I'd miss my kids.

Reality check: Dinner (at the Taquería México) was the usual affair of listening to Eliana tell endless unfunny jokes and riddles (an intelligible form of yabbering), Katie and Ellie squabbling, both girls trying to climb into their mother's lap while she was eating, and finally Katie, from that lap, leaning over and putting her head against Garrett in an attempt to show and receive affection, while Garrett suggested he might be more affectionate if she didn't head-butt him. The memory of the delicious nachos con todo w/chorizo, and my excellent Fiesta plate, which has a chicken enchilada w/ green sauce, a barbeque flauta, and a quesadilla, overwhelms me as I write this. Yum! Ellie didn't want to go because she doesn't like the food there, but I suggested she get Mexican rice and a plain carnitas taco, and when I asked her how she like the taco, she gave me a big thumbs up! She didn't even blather endlessly about it because her mouth was full. Katie became too full to eat any of her quesadilla or finish her chorizo taco, because she has learned to like nachos. The food was better than the nostalgic emotional expectations of our last supper together. I didn't shed any tears during the meal.

Now I have time to make blog posts, and worry incessently about whether I packed warm enough clothes for the girls to survive the bitterly cold summer we are having. Alice misses the girls so much she regrets sending them. I don't regret sending them, but I sure hope it warms up, because I'm worried nonstop. I'd rather be worrying about them schvitzing to death.

Ellie didn't seem to worry about going, only said goodbye once, and was off to camp for a certain fun time. Katie suffers from anxiety and worried about going and waved all the way out the driveway after multiple goodbyes. She will probably hate it for the first week. I'm not worried about Garrett. He's having a blast, I'm sure.