“I can tell you don’t have any kids in the house,” my friend
Krista said after I showed her the video I had taken of my dog, Betsy learning
to jump over a broomstick in the hallway of my house. It’s true. I’m that
person. The person who has taken to teaching her dog “stupid pet tricks” to
keep herself entertained now that the children have left the nest. I had posted
a video on Facebook about how addictive it (social media) is and how people who
are experts in making casinos addictive are hired by Facebook to make it just
as addictive. When I sent that video to my son Robby he replied, “You’re the
one with the chicken pictures.” Yup. Guilty. The first warm day we had, I opened
the chicken coop, took pictures of my chickens happily walking around on top of
it, then created a photo collage to post on Instagram. Last week I posted a
picture of one of my chickens standing next to the grill with the caption,
“You do NOT want to know what goes
on in there, Gerrie. #theuglytruth, #chickenlove, #backyardchickens.”
My friends have been having a good
time pointing out that my new interest in dog training (check out the video of
my dog putting 6 tennis balls in a plastic tub) is a sign of my current state
of empty-nest syndrome. After the feeling of initial sadness went away, I felt
like I was adjusting quite well. And even though I felt pretty good, (even
counting the after-Christmas crying jag when the boys left), I noticed that I
had been unconsciously behaving in ways that might indicate that I was filling
some holes, left by our now absent children.
·
We eat frozen dinners more than I care to admit.
I used to cook a lot. But now that it’s just the two of us, eating out and
frozen dinners are just easier.
·
I have almost totally replaced my wardrobe with
purchases from Zulily and Lularoe. I didn’t realize it was happening until I
began getting what seemed like one new piece of clothing per day (some stuff I
didn’t even like). Between September and October I had accumulated enough items
to wear something new to work every day for 3 weeks. That prompted a trip to
Good Will with a big basket of clothes.
·
I am taking lots and lots of pictures and videos
of my dog, cats, and chickens and then posting them on Instagram or boring my
friends and colleagues by insisting that they watch just one more home movie of
my dog playing with the cat.
But some good things have happened too. I have started
working out again. Tom and I are getting out more and the house stays cleaner,
longer. We are going to do some traveling to places other than the Upper
Peninsula. Everyone said that empty next would be hard, but we’d not only adjust,
but like it, and we have. So if you see me around, it will be pretty easy to
tell that I don’t have kids in the house anymore. I’ll be the one wearing a new
outfit, showing people pictures of my animals on my phone.
