After wrapping up my adoption and reunion story last week, it’s time to move on to a new topic for this column. My editor and I agreed that focusing on my “empty nest” would be a great theme.
According to the U.S. Census, there are about 22.5 million empty nesters in the United States. If you’re not familiar with the term, Oxford Dictionary states that an empty nester is “a parent whose children have grown up and left home.”
My husband John and I loosely qualify. Jonathon is 22 and is about to graduate from IUPUI in May. Jacob is 20 and is a junior at Ball State. Both live in rental homes near campus, although Jacob does come home for the summer, and we see Jonathon every Sunday for “laundry day.” Laundry day is, of course, a tradition among college students.
I’m not certain that the Oxford definition is 100 percent accurate, however. I have many moments where my kids aren’t quite “grown-ups.” I witnessed them last summer.
For example, Jonathon did some housesitting for us when we traveled. We of course wanted to stock the house with all his favorite foods (and a little beer). Overall, he’s a healthy eater, but he did request a classic kid favorite – frozen chicken nuggets.
The only nuggets I could find at Aldi were Minion Chicken Nuggets. If you’re not familiar with these adorable, yellow creatures, check out the Despicable Me series from Illumination Entertainment.
When I texted a photo of said nuggets, my normally calm, quiet 22-year-old practically squeaked with delight in his response. “YES!” He and his girlfriend were so excited to eat them, and we didn’t have any left when we came home.
My boys also get excited when they’re home during the summer and we have Bomb Pop popsicles in the freezer. Soon they’re enjoying them and temporarily turning their tongues blue.
Finally, I truly witnessed my guys acting like 10-year-olds (along with one of their friends, Oscar, who is in the Air Force) when I held my book launch last August. I asked one of them to wrap something in aluminum foil that afternoon. They ran out of wrap, leaving just the cardboard tube
Soon I heard, WHACK! THUMP! SMACK! I peered around the corner to see what was happening.
Jonathon was smacking Oscar with the cardboard tube. Oscar was grabbing it and smacking Jonathon back. Then Jonathon grabbed it and smacked Jacob. They continued to pass the tube around.
“Ow! Man!”
“Dang! That really hurts.”
“OWW!”
In between the whacks and the exclamations, all three were giggling like little boys. And, of course, they didn’t stop for a full five minutes.
Photo provided by Amy Shankland
My husband has repeated the saying “Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional” by Carroll Bryant for years. Although I have two college students, my boys and their friends definitely live by this saying.
Honestly? I try to live this way as well. I just bought a plaque that says, “I see no good reason to act my age.” Acting like little kids occasionally keeps our inner child alive and makes life fun.
I won’t reach out to Oxford to change their definition of empty nester … I’ll just continue to enjoy the fun and laughter whenever my boys come home.