I Believe It's Official, I'm "Mature" Now...

[Peter Gunn]

Yup, hard to believe but we spent the weekend moving the YOUNGEST daughter into her college dorm... wow.

Not an easy task, she and I watched many a movie together, she also loves target shooting and fast cars so it was hard to see her go on one hand but on the other I'm excited for her and her new adventure.

Fortunately she's only as far as Orlando, about a 90 minute to two hour drive away so it isn't too bad, but it's her first time away from home.

House seems pretty empty all of a sudden, well, I'm not the first "empty nester" and certainly won't be the last in the history of the world.

Guess it's time to start my next restoration project, a 1985 SS Monte Carlo. Ah well, thanks for "listening", just feeling a bit blue with her out of the house.

 

[SaparotRob]

I hear this guy has a "fixer-upper" FW-187 for sale.

 

[Peter Gunn]

I hear this guy has a "fixer-upper" FW-187 for sale.

 

[bdefen]

When we took our daughter to WSU in Pullman in 2005, it was a tearful departure for me and my wife. She's our only kid. My wife and I, and our daughter were all crying when we left. We continued to sniffle a bit as we headed out, and began driving south to Boise, 300 miles away. But after 15 or 20 minutes, our mood lightened, and by the time we reached Lewiston, ID (about 30 miles into the trip), we were smiling, laughing, recounting old times, turned the radio up, and had a very pleasant all-day road trip home. The big picture must have kicked in: all of our planning, saving money, and envisioning the future had borne fruit. Our wonderful daughter had been launched. Undergrad and grad school went well for her. She's now 34, fully-independent, very gainfully employed, happy, and lives just a few miles away. Have heart, your case of the blues will subside.

 

[Gnomey]

And whilst they certainly will you will enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit!

 

[special ed]

When the baby birds fly out of the nest, it is always a concern if they were taught to fly safely. The first of my three daughters is a semi retired Veterinarian still married to her retired Veterinarian, second daughter still married to a paramedic and provided me with my only grandchildren and eventually with great grand child, while the third is married to active duty USCG man and works as a producer at a TV station. So far they are flying OK.

 

[Greg Boeser]

Well, don't think you are out of the woods. Two of mine are returning to the nest. One just wrapped up his Marine enlistment, so I suspect once he gets readjusted to civilian life he won't stay long. The other just quit her job because it was too stressful.

 

[Peter Gunn]

Yeah, she has a pretty good head on her shoulders and she's only 1.5 - 2.0 hours away, but it is her first time away from home. I think we taught her everything we could and I'm confident she'll be fine. I do miss her though.

 

[GrumpyOldCrewChief]

The lessons I tried to give my two boys for this situation were simple, but difficult. They (as most of us do) needed to be taught how to be a good adult, and a good person. Demonstrate to them good decision making, and try to teach them good decision making skills for themselves. My older son moved out back in the early aughts, and, while his decisions are certainly not the ones I would have made, he has followed through with them, and flourishes. He does well, and does good. My younger one is getting to that point, too.

I suppose my point is that teaching them the process is more important than any individual lesson or fact can ever be. Facts are very important, but knowing what to do with those facts is critical.

Are those the lessons you taught your younglings?

 

[Peter Gunn]

Yeah, we pretty much (hopefully) gave them the tools to make the right decisions and so far all four of them are doing pretty good.