Full Heart, Empty Nest

We rented a place at the Jersey Shore for a month, and the Rosh Hashanah holiday happened to fall within that month, which I didn’t even realize when we first booked it. I was so excited as this unfolded that all of our boys decided they could meet us. One drove down from Maryland, the other two from New York, and one even brought his girlfriend.

We played tennis, cooked, took walks on the boardwalk, explored nearby towns we didn’t know very well, played Catan at night, and just had a lot of chill, relaxed time together. I love that kind of time where you can simply hang out.

Then after two days, they packed up and left. And that feeling hit me again. You’d think by now I’d be used to it, but each time the house goes quiet I feel that little ache.

I sometimes wonder if I talk about empty nesting too much, but it keeps coming up because it’s real. The good news is I see it as part of growing. Each goodbye is a reminder that they’re out building their own lives, exactly what we raised them to do. I’m learning how to build my own next chapter too.

Growing here looks like giving myself permission to feel that pang without judging it, then shifting my focus to the things I’m creating for this stage of life. Sometimes it just takes a little time to push through the emotions that come with each visit and goodbye. They’ll always feel like a part of me, but they really have their own lives now. That shift can feel like a knot in your stomach when they leave. How do we move through that feeling? I’m still figuring it out, but I know filling the quiet with purpose, new routines, and things that bring joy helps me through.

The nest may be empty most days, but it’s still full of love, and I’m still growing right along with them.