EN-Day arrives tomorrow (PAH)

keith_12

yes dave but they do come home again!!!!! belive me they do cone home again.

Dave Yates (PAH)

An E-ticket ride for sure!

EN-Day = Empty Nester Day for us - starting tomorrow. Gather your kids close and give em a great big hug. Every day. For one day, you'll be helping them set sail too. Today's hugs will be the memories of tomorrow.

All of the life skills and tools we could give, or that a stubborn minded kid/adult would accept(G), have been given/pounded into his head. The time to unfurl his own flag and spread his wings has come.

Next week, we'll no doubt discover each other again(G). Where in the hell did all of this gray hair come from?

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ScottMP

Sweet and Sour

IT must be a little of both and at this point I can't imagine it Yet !

I remember one of the wallies talking about sitting in a empty bedroom and having a cry because his best friend was'nt there anymore. I can imagine that.

Knowing you Dave, I am sure this young man has a boatload of knowledge to use in his adult life.

Think of it this way ... You hav'nt lost a child, you've gained a tuition payment

Scott

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bb

I can't imagine....

Mr. Yates:

Our nest just got a little bigger on 8 August @ 6:31 AM when our son Alexander James Burton was born.

Maybe it's the lack of sleep, but I can't imagine what it will be like. Too many journeys w/ the boys to make before we can even thing of them going to college.

If you find out how the gray hair comes, please let me know before mine is all grey..... At least yours is not falling out!

Best of luck to you and the Mrs.

bb

Steve Ebels_3

So how'd it go Dave

You and the better half just sit and stare at each other all evening or did you go out and celebrate?

I'll have to admit that for us it was a combination thing. A sense of fulfilling and completing an arduous task on one hand and a deep feeling of emptiness on the other. One of the main reasons to get up in the morning just left the picture and it's really different.

I have to say that Kathy and I are enjoying some of the good times we put off when we were young (married at 18 and twins on my 20th birthday) We invested every minute and every cent we had in our kids and now it's kinda nice to be able to enjoy our own lives the way we want to live them.

BTW someone should figure a way to have just grandkids. They are a blast. Took the two year old blackberry picking last night and brought her back all scratched up and dyed blue from ear to ear. The little bugger just waded right in when she would see a berry and to heck with the thornes. What a riot she is!

Dave Yates (PAH)

It was

a glorious day! Sunny & warm, but not the oppressive heat we had two weeks ago. None the less, it was a five-floor hump-up the gear to his room! Thank God his older brother and his wife joined us & the "kids" did most of the heavy items.

Lois had told him we weren't leaving till his bed was made - no doubt a motherly instinct thing - so that was early on HIS list! The dorm is co-ed by wing, not floor, and more than once I wished it was I who was going off to school(G).

We visited the college book store (a huge financial mistake on my part!) and helped Mike gather his needed books. My daughter-(in-law) was the whiz when it came to locating books and quite adept at breezing through the recycled used ones to secure a good copy, Even so, the bill was a tad over 5-bills!

Back to the room & it was time to shove off. Lois was teary-eyed & by golly there was some dirt or something stuck in both of mine! Back to the car to find a welcome-to-college gift stuck under the windshield-wiper from the local police dept. Seems we'd parked in a permit-sticker zone. With the thousands of arrivals, there was nowhere else to park. Chalk up another donation to the college!

We stopped on the way home to have a big dinner & it occured to me I could splurge on the cost because I'm now saving the cost of a third meal! Back home, the son & his wife shoved off and we entered a silent home.

Truth be told, I think I'm having the hardest time (out of the three of us) adjusting to this change. But, it's what we've worked to accomplish all these years - a strong willed independent child ready to forge ahead into life's continuing journey, well on his way to becoming an adult contributing member of society.

Then again, Keith may be right and six years from now he'll be driving us bonkers while having moved back in. Yikes!

Here's a twist of irony. When we dropped John off at Slippery Rock, we joked about being the youngest parents there and how we'd be the oldest ones when we dropped off Mike 17 years in the future. John is exactly the same age I was when we dropped him off & they're about to adopt a Chinese baby. I pointed out that we represented their future - gray hair & all(G). They'll be our age when their daughter goes to college. The look on his face was priceless.



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Steve Ebels_3

Aaahhhhh Yes

Those misty eyed times are always rather special. When they're born, their first steps/words/home run/first anything, watching them get on the bus for the first time, when they get married, when they leave for the big wide world. It's truly good to be a dad!

Dave Yates (PAH)

and

We made him stand in front of the garage door for the traditional "first day of school" picture(G).

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Christian Egli

Gray hair and a commemorative ticket, any less stress?

Parents are so important and yet, as kids, we mostly fail to see the whole picture. It's way more than food, shelter, clothes, education. Above all I think it's love.

Your successful EN-day is a token sign you're doing a good job. Damned the bit of dust flying into the eye.

The parking ticket is a good start too. It’s a souvenir and a story to tell around.

Best wishes

Christian Egli