Dream your dreams. Help others feel at ease when they walk through your door but do not abandon yourself. Parents are making marketing lists from recipes and re-arranging colors in the house for the holidays. I have a list below that might give everyone a heads up on this transition. Children will come back from […]
Parents have been emailing and calling me about going to their children\’s first family weekend. Family weekend is when the parents visit their children and college campus to see what life is like now that they are settling into their new routine and life away from home. Truth is, some aren\’t settled yet and that […]
When life isn\’t going our way or we are sitting in sadness, we don\’t easily let others know. Empty nesters don\’t like letting others know they are down, disappointed, and can\’t see over the mountain, lethargic, lost. Parents are role models. Our whole life might seem to have been about our children. We haven\’t practiced […]
“To change one\’s life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.” ~ William James Doesn\’t that quotation sound like cheerleaders at half time? Well, some people leap into change to keep tears away. Some drop like lead in water. Others let themselves cry, rest, pause, meander, and unfold. There is no right or wrong way […]
A mother told me during a telephone consultation that her daughter is a junior in high school and crying. Crying because her friends are seniors and leaving for college. She doesn\’t know if they will even be friends once they go to college. Those tears brought questions to the mom. What will I be like […]
“There is more to life than increasing its speed” Gandhi I love the feeling of the word summer. Playtime is expected and we are even given more light. Whether our children are at home or away , I think we need to plan our own playtime , which of course all of us know, but […]
May, the month of Mother\’s Day, kids on the way to graduating high school and college, getting a job or planning a wedding. May. May we… find excitement in figuring out what is next for us have new visions of how to relate to our adult children have faith that our children have learned to […]
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. – Marcel Proust During our third phone consultation, Kate was talking about how she was doing with her free time. She is single with two kids thousands of miles away and loosely holds the number 56. She couldn\’t see […]
“Even the most distressing situation can offer a glimmer of hope, an opportunity for self-respect.” — Dr. Gloria WilderBrathwaite, medical director of the D.C. Children\’s Health Project WHAT KIND OF EMPTY NESTER DO YOU THINK YOU WILL BE? Before the countdown to your kids leaving home, try this fun quiz to see how prepared you […]
“We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, But it is the emptiness inside That holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, But it is the inner space That makes it livable. We work with being, […]
