Wednesday, May 07, 2008

The Empty Nest - Round Three

Ten years ago we would chat easily with our friends about the impending empty nest. We would be the first in our little circle to have all the children move out. Eight years ago, when Ben was a junior in high school, this new, unusual life appeared on the horizon. We knew that a boy's senior year was often spent out of the house as much as possible, and we wondered what we would do, and what we would talk about. We even had a little money put aside.

Well a dog would have been too much trouble, so we adopted two teenagers from Romania instead in 2001. J-A left for college almost 3 years ago, and Chris graduated highschool and headed off for Texas in 2007. We acquired two dogs that year as well, but no problem, right? One was to be temporary and the other was going to Texas with the youngest. Before he quite accomplished leaving, however, John-Adrian moved back home to attend college online and work, and find a girlfriend - though he said he came home because he was worried we'd be lonely.

Apparently, the absence of a dog was a burden on one of us - so we got two. Now Chris is moving back from Houston (it's a good thing. He needed another year here after high school but was unwilling to consider it then), and we will have two boys and two dogs for at least another year.

Life changes. It doesn't go where you expect it to.

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