Hi All,
I guess the next phase of empty nest was the realization that she would leave home. Yeah, leave home and live somewhere else, make friends, and . . . go shopping without me. Don’t get me wrong, at 17 and 18, of course she shopped by herself here, but I always got to see things. When she was in college, I had to wait until I saw a picture on Facebook.
I worked for the Census Bureau this year as a crew leader, doing the 2010 count. No, not a job tangent this time, so hang with me here. The Census looked at three major things in the Update Enumerate operation I was a part of: 1) Was a building a house; 2) if it was a house, was it occupied; 3)and if it was an occupied house, how many people lived there the majority of the time. So, my daughter was counted at her college dorm, not my home, because for 2010 most of her time was or would be at the college.
The government is a murky thing. I can count my daughter as a dependent if I pay for more than half of her bills (not a tax consultant, so talk with one–the rules may have changed), but by their rules, she doesn’t live at my house. My daughter went back to pick up some stuff from the house she will be living at next year (she is home for the summer) and she even says, “It was good being at home.”
So now we are in the transition big time. One year away at college; home for the summer. I know the time is coming when she won’t come home for summer. We all were there, we all did that. Coming home to crash when times got tough, but always working to get out of the nest.
I know it is hard for her to relinquish her independence to come home, but it is hard on us too. My husband just goes to work and deals with whatever is happening there. But I sometimes feel that all my routines change–because they do. Don’t get me wrong, I love staying up late and watching chick flicks with my daughter, but man, the next morning is really rough on me and my daily activities.
And, if a little lost sleep is as bad as it gets, then I am okay. When my workload increases because of extra laundry, dishes, cooking, etc, then I start getting a bit put out and start saying things like ” ‘M’ is for MOMMY, not MAID!”
Has anyone else noticed this?
Later,
me
