Grace Community Christian Church

 

Archived Things Above

Empty-Nesters Now! (9/2/04)

Well, it's finally here. After 24 years, 3 daughters, countless cats, 2 guinea pigs, 2 birds & a dog (not to mention the miscellaneous fish & reptiles), the Empty Nest is upon us. Baby Dewar is now a college freshman, & Mom & Dad are adjusting to life the way it was from 1980 to 1982: Alone!

Its arrival has been blessedly slow but relentless. With our girls spaced roughly two years apart, it's not like we lost them all at once. (Although with the advent of the teen years, I had already lost part of them even before they left.) Still, there is a deafening silence echoing in a house where the phone rarely rings & where parking places don't require complex navigatory maneuvers! I can actually park by the garage door, & know that in the morning, I'll be able to get out!

Divorce statistics for marriages at this point are not encouraging. Just when you'd think a couple is breaking into the home stretch, a lot of them simply break up. Without the children to focus on, they focus on each other, & realize they don't like what they see.

Kim & I have been aware of this for a long time, & we've been very successful at carving out quite a bit of time for just the two of us. We've tried to adopt what we heard a preacher say to his kids early in our marriage: "It was just me & your mom before you came; it will be just me & your mom when you leave. You're just a guest here!"

Time will tell just how long these "guests" will actually "fly the nest." Boomerangs have been known to come back!

But for now, it's just us again. And 2 cats. 1 dog. 2 birds. Some things never change!

Hidden with Christ,


Jim Dewar --