Last blog... still an empty-nester. I cannot believe that it is May. Less then 2 months and Sarah will be home. Zach has been living in Evanston for 3 months. Time does play tricks, that is for sure. Speeding by and dragging on. I have really enjoyed our time without others in the house. I would say without kids in the house, but who am I fooling, my children are young adults, not kids. They both left the house for different reasons. Sarah knew what she was doing, had planned for it, "trained" for it and was ready. She needed to see more of this world then another year in a classroom would offer her. She has had amazing growth in the last 8 months and has seen and learned things that make me jealous and so proud. Zach had no idea what he was in for, just following the path that I had basically laid out for him. He was fine where he was at MSU but he was not his own person. The choices that he made in January let him mature and grow into himself. I see the man that Zach can be when I visit now. He is not a kid, he is not a YA (library speak), he is just about a full-blown adult. To say that I am proud of my children would be an understatement. I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Brian has been a great friend and partner. I am glad to say that I love spending time with him. Living in the woods and not having a lot of friends in the area, it is a darn good thing we like hanging out together. My favorite time of day is when we are both just home for work (or at least he is if it is my day off) and we sit upstairs and catch up or read or watch some news. The routine of sitting down for dinner together every night (often in time to test our IQ's with Jeopardy) will continue and I hope that Sarah will plan on joining us and Zach too, when he is home. My other "favorite" of this time that we have had is exploring the state of Michigan. We have had so many wonderful weekend day trips. That will continue as well, I hope, I hope.
Camp season is upon us, this will also bring changes as I take on the evening job of running the Trading Post and Brian's schedule is dictated by the camp schedule. We love the summer season and are very ready for all of the wonderful people it brings to "our neck of the woods". I have loved my time, I will love my time when Sarah is back home, I will love my time when Zach visits or is home from school. That is my goal... to love my time.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
It happened again...
We are empty-nesters. We actually have been for almost a month.
When Zach decided that Michigan State was not for him I feel that I went through a lot of different emotions. While I was dealing with all of MY feelings I didn't feel like writing. I guess now that I want to write again is a good sign. It is a really good sign.
My biggest regret after Zach left school and returned home was feeling a bit like a failure myself. I was embarrassed that he had dropped out of college (this is not something easy to admit!) I couldn't get past the fact that he was going to be home and not be at Michigan State University doing what you are "supposed" to do after graduating High School. Zach and I had a bit of a rough adjustment those first couple of weeks. I was able to talk to LOTS of different people that gave us wonderful advise and information. Just over a month ago a game plan was formed. It is because of all of the wonderful people in our lives that Zach is now living in Evanston and working at Charmers Cafe and teaching swim lessons at the McGaw YMCA. I think that he is genuinely happy with his life right now. My embarrassment of my son's decision has turned into pride that he made such a big decision. He is on a new path, one that will probably lead back to school... eventually. I know that my stepping back and letting him take the wheel of his own life has helped both of us. Don't get me wrong though, I am still quite the meddling mother! As Brian likes to point out; I need to know what's going on. I am on "Team Zach", always have been, always will be.
Sarah Jane, living in Germany. Finding it hard to speak English when all of her thoughts are in German. Truly immersed in the life she is living. Today is the 6 (SIX) month anniversary of her arrival! She has 4 more to go and they are going to be so full of friends and adventure. She and the other Rotary exchange students in her area are going on a 3 week tour around Germany. I think it is 23 cities in 21 days or something crazy like that. She will be giving herself one day to recover and then she is off to England with her school for 5 days. She is going to be one tired girl. I go to Chicago for a weekend and need a little time to recover. Sarah did find out that she will be working at camp when she returns to Fremont. Two weeks to get re-acclimated and then 4 weeks living at camp. Getting PAID for the 1st time after her 100's of hours of volunteering. I am excited to see her again and have her back in our day to day lives but hope that she takes advantage of every moment she has there!
I am pretty over the winter weather that refuses to depart western Michigan. I need Spring, I need some fun weekend adventures that don't require skis, boots, mittens, hats, coats. I am not a Winter person. I will be a lot happier once I can see green grass and feel the heat of the sun on my face!
When Zach decided that Michigan State was not for him I feel that I went through a lot of different emotions. While I was dealing with all of MY feelings I didn't feel like writing. I guess now that I want to write again is a good sign. It is a really good sign.
My biggest regret after Zach left school and returned home was feeling a bit like a failure myself. I was embarrassed that he had dropped out of college (this is not something easy to admit!) I couldn't get past the fact that he was going to be home and not be at Michigan State University doing what you are "supposed" to do after graduating High School. Zach and I had a bit of a rough adjustment those first couple of weeks. I was able to talk to LOTS of different people that gave us wonderful advise and information. Just over a month ago a game plan was formed. It is because of all of the wonderful people in our lives that Zach is now living in Evanston and working at Charmers Cafe and teaching swim lessons at the McGaw YMCA. I think that he is genuinely happy with his life right now. My embarrassment of my son's decision has turned into pride that he made such a big decision. He is on a new path, one that will probably lead back to school... eventually. I know that my stepping back and letting him take the wheel of his own life has helped both of us. Don't get me wrong though, I am still quite the meddling mother! As Brian likes to point out; I need to know what's going on. I am on "Team Zach", always have been, always will be.
Sarah Jane, living in Germany. Finding it hard to speak English when all of her thoughts are in German. Truly immersed in the life she is living. Today is the 6 (SIX) month anniversary of her arrival! She has 4 more to go and they are going to be so full of friends and adventure. She and the other Rotary exchange students in her area are going on a 3 week tour around Germany. I think it is 23 cities in 21 days or something crazy like that. She will be giving herself one day to recover and then she is off to England with her school for 5 days. She is going to be one tired girl. I go to Chicago for a weekend and need a little time to recover. Sarah did find out that she will be working at camp when she returns to Fremont. Two weeks to get re-acclimated and then 4 weeks living at camp. Getting PAID for the 1st time after her 100's of hours of volunteering. I am excited to see her again and have her back in our day to day lives but hope that she takes advantage of every moment she has there!
I am pretty over the winter weather that refuses to depart western Michigan. I need Spring, I need some fun weekend adventures that don't require skis, boots, mittens, hats, coats. I am not a Winter person. I will be a lot happier once I can see green grass and feel the heat of the sun on my face!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Well That Didn't Last Long
I am no longer an empty-nester! I have no idea how long this will last but Zach has moved home. After returning to school from Winter Break he started questioning everything that he was doing and why. He made the final decision to withdraw from MSU and return home to figure things out. I have to say that last week was a bit rough for all of us. I learned what I think is a very valuable lesson: I can guide my children and I can give them my opinion but I can not decide what they are going to do. I pretty much believe that I was the one that decided that Zach was going to go to college once he graduated high school. I didn't hold his hand through the process I did the process for him. That time of our life is over. Zach needs to figure out his path, his goals and ultimately how he is going to live his life. I can fill his head with hundred's of ideas but he is in the driver's seat from now on. He has already said that he might regret this decision but since he decided he can only move forward. College is always an option again, MSU is always an option again. I have to say that academically Zach did a fantastic job his 1st semester. His primary focus now needs to be on what he wants to do, where he sees his life and to get a job! Right now he just needs to get a job!
Sarah is staying in Germany until July 2nd. I would not say that it was touch or go because I don't think it would have crossed her mind to quit. I can say that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were rough for her. She battled homesickness, winter blahs and certainly questioned why she had given up the comforts of home to be someplace that is often uncomfortable. Thankfully Rotary meetings prior to her leaving dealt with the roller coaster of emotions that almost all exchange students will face. She said "bring it on" and got through the rough patch. Hard to be unhappy when you are in Salzburg on the Sound of Music Tour! Other then her computer breaking this week I believe that Sarah is very happy with where she is and what she is doing. It was hard to hear that her computer had broken and that I could not do a thing about it. Had she been here I would have brought it to the "computer fixer guy". I hope her host family can help her with that.
My New Year's resolutions are cliche: loose weight and exercise more. Probably won't be writing about the Life of an Empty-Nester until it happens again. ta-ta for now.
Sarah is staying in Germany until July 2nd. I would not say that it was touch or go because I don't think it would have crossed her mind to quit. I can say that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were rough for her. She battled homesickness, winter blahs and certainly questioned why she had given up the comforts of home to be someplace that is often uncomfortable. Thankfully Rotary meetings prior to her leaving dealt with the roller coaster of emotions that almost all exchange students will face. She said "bring it on" and got through the rough patch. Hard to be unhappy when you are in Salzburg on the Sound of Music Tour! Other then her computer breaking this week I believe that Sarah is very happy with where she is and what she is doing. It was hard to hear that her computer had broken and that I could not do a thing about it. Had she been here I would have brought it to the "computer fixer guy". I hope her host family can help her with that.
My New Year's resolutions are cliche: loose weight and exercise more. Probably won't be writing about the Life of an Empty-Nester until it happens again. ta-ta for now.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)