Earlier this week my daughter left for an extended work trip. It’s quiet around the house without her, which has me asking the question all parents ask at some point: Am I ready be be an empty nester?
Welcome to the 50th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a decluttering challenge for the week. In addition to thoughts on the empty nest, this week’s golden edition covers rising sugar prices, The Carbon Almanac’s kids page, the reducetarian diet, and decluttering kitchen counters.
On my mind this week: Am I ready to be an empty nester?
I’ve written before about the mixed emotions I’ve felt as our daughters grow up and find their way in the world. This week, my younger daughter Colleen left for an extended work trip in Prince Edward Island. She’ll be away for two and a half weeks, then home for a few days, then gone again for another few weeks.
It’s quiet at home without her.
Over the years, I recall conversations with parents who couldn’t wait for their kids to grow up and leave. I’ve never felt that way. When it comes to parenting, each age and stage has its challenges, but I’ve always enjoyed having my girls at home. I was never in a hurry to push them out the door.
Even so, I knew this day would come.
Our older daughter Laura moved away for college at 18. She returned home for a couple of summers and now lives on the other side of the country in British Columbia. On the other hand, Colleen likes being in familiar surroundings, so she was never in a hurry to fly the coop. I like having her here. She’s my card-playing and soap-watching buddy. Watching Y&R just isn’t the same with no-one to make sarcastic comments to.
So, with one daughter in Canada’s westernmost province, and another on the east coast, the song Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheel is ringing in my head. It’s scary, but a little exciting all at the same time.
While I definitely miss both my girls, I’m approaching Colleen’s trip as yet another step in my Year of Reinvention. I’ll have more time to write, learn, read and explore new things.
But I’ll cherish those times when both girls return home, and the nest is full again.
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Three highlights of the week
It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:
- I had a great virtual catch up with a couple of friends this week. I’ve agreed to get involved in an exciting project with them—yet another step in my year of reinvention. Stay tuned for more on that front!
- On Friday I had coffee with a friend who’s agreed to be one of my practice coaching candidates as I work toward my retirement coaching certification. We had a great conversation, and she gave me some ideas for my Second Life Vision workshop.
- On the weekend, I binge watched the second half of the final episode of The Crown. Now I need a new series to watch. Please drop your suggestions in the comments below!
Three things I learned this week
Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:
Sugar prices on the rise
It seems nothing is sacred when it comes to climate change. Droughts in India and Thailand have pushed sugar prices to their highest level since 2011. (Source: The Guardian)
This will soon flow through to the sweet treats we enjoy every day. Sounds like a good time to cut back on candy. Yeah…who am I kidding?
The Carbon Almanac has a kids’ page
I discovered The Carbon Almanac about a year ago. The Daily Difference email is full of interesting nuggets that I often share on The Sunday Spark. This week, I learned they have a kids page full of resources to teach kids about climate change. There’s even a podcast just for kids!
The reducetarian diet
In Giving up meat won’t save the Earth…but it might help, I wrote about steps I’m taking to reduce my meat consumption. This week I learned there’s a word for what I’m doing. It turns out I’m a reducetarian! (Source: Earth911)
This week’s decluttering challenge
In 2024, I’ve been revisiting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge I completed in 2021. This week’s challenge was clearing the clutter on our kitchen counters, and I’m happy to report I decluttered 10 items. You can find the details, along with my tips and learnings, in this week’s decluttering post.
If you’d like to join the challenge, visit this post to download your free checklists and jump right in with this week’s task.
I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.
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As someone married to my best friend for 45 years, and counting, our relationship was always the primary one. We dearly love our three grown kids but you know they will only be around for awhile and then likely will move off and only be seen a few times a year, at best. We’ve enjoyed the empty nest years just as much as the nesting ones. Its just the next phase to be embraced.
Thanks Steve. While I’m sometimes envious of my friends whose kids and grandkids live nearby, I’m also grateful that my daughters are independent. Our older daughter has always been a free spirit so it’s not surprising that she doesn’t feel constrained by geography. You’re right that this is just another phase. That’s definitely how I try to embrace every change.
Our son lives nearly 2,000 miles away, and we have our first grandchild on the way in four months. You can imagine how happy and hard this is simultaneously. Life is just different without kids in the house, but knowing he is happy makes up for missing him terribly.
I know what you mean Pete. As hard as it is having the girls far away, all I really want is for them to be happy. I just wish they could be happy a little closer to home. LOL At least Colleen’s absence is temporary.
Now I’ve got Stuck in the Middle With You also ringing in my head . . . 😂
Wishing you the best with your projects and hoping the words flow!
Isn’t it funny how the mere mention of a song can plant it in your head for hours and sometimes days? Thanks so much for your best wishes, Layla!
This spark is filled with so much relatable stuff Michelle!
My empty nest life was a mixed emotion rollercoaster. When youngest Alison left I had no more excuses to hang on to my marriage. Kids at home wasn’t a great reason to do that in the first place, but it really hit home when I knew she was settled on her own.
Like LA, I was going to toss out a list of PBS series that are great. However I just finished watching For All Mankind, a space race/political show where each season covers a new decade. Some fact but then enhanced with lots of fictional happenings…such as we would likely already be living on Mars right now… I always do a Google search around January and Oscars time. New shows, and movies that may be noteworthy are listed on many sites. I get lots of ideas from those searches and they always take me down rabbit holes of exploration for other ideas. It’s a good rainy day activity 😉
I buy sugar only to make hummingbird nectar. I noticed it had risen in price recently since the last time I had to buy some. How do I tell my hummingbirds to take it easy on their meals ? 🙂
That kids page on climate change would have been perfect for the science unit I did with the grands home school lessons on the environment. I really appreciated sites like that to supplement and have conversations about the things we were learning.
I have long been a reductarian! Although I typically just say that I’m 95% vegetarian 🙂
I’m so happy to hear you could relate to this week’s Sunday Spark, Deb.
Good idea to do a search for shows to watch. I lean toward comedies, historical fiction, and documentaries. I try not to get caught up in binge watching because it takes me away from other things I should be doing. But it is winter after all!
I buy very little sugar, as well. Lucky you having hummingbirds. We rarely see them here so we abandoned our feeder.
I eat meat no more than once a day, and try to have one or two meatless days a week, so I’m probably about two-thirds vegetarian. I’d go all in but my husband is a carnivore, so this is a good compromise for me.
Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful Sunday, Deb!
Thanks for the introduction to a new word — me, too — trying to be a “reducetarian”. (Did I spell that right?) And thanks for the “Stealer’s Wheel” musical memory — perfect as you describe geography and your girls. Xo! 🥰
It’s interesting that you and I both made musical references in our posts today, Vicki.
Yes, you spelled reducetarian right. Every time I typed it as I was writing my post, I had to go back and check the spelling. Spell check hasn’t learned this word yet!
Have a wonderful Sunday!
Yes…love the musical connections! Thanks, Michelle! 🥰
🤘😎🤘
I’m a fan of All Creatures Great and Small but as it’s on pbs I don’t know if you get access to it
I remember watching that years ago. We do get PBS here. I’ll have a look.
This is a newer version.
I hope you enjoy your projects this year. Keep giving us all fantastic ideas to be more climate friendly.
Thanks Jamie. Lots of writing in my future. 😀