Starting over as empty nesters
Starting over as empty nesters
A sign was staked into our front yard today. For Sale.
When we first moved to the Midwest, I’ll be honest, it was disorientating.
We are West Coasters. This place is so far from home.
With time, it became home. We stopped dreaming of moving back, accepting that we were here, and embracing the now.
The longing though, it never left. We’ve missed weddings, graduations, birthday parties, holidays. The normal cadence of what we were brought up with.
A few months ago, a series of unexpected phone calls ended with an opportunity for my husband.
A chance to move West
Every detail of this offer blew our minds, really.
Those calls were so surreal, we felt it could only be God’s hand in this situation.
That doesn’t mean we weren’t filled with anxiety, wondering if we were crazy.
What if we were missing something? What if it was a financial disaster? How would we make new friends at this age? What if our family didn’t have time to fit us into their lives? After all, we’ve been gone awhile.
The excitement of being part of our family fabric again was, is, exhilarating. The “what-ifs” though, as you can imagine, made our decision scary.
Even when we hear God clearly, it doesn’t mean we won’t struggle to say yes.
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach our eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience” — Eleanor Roosevelt
Are there doubts and fears? Heck yes! We’ve made a lot of moves. Some good, some extremely difficult. After weighing the pros and cons to the best of our ability?
It is time for faith-full action.
We are jumping in with both feet. Ready to see what the next phase of life holds for us.
Is 50 too late to start over?
We are middle-aged and moving. It is an emotional roller coaster, to make this choice.
Heart-wrenching to know that we’ll be saying goodbyes, again. To our friends, our lives, our home.
There will be times when fear starts to creep in. When sorrow runs deep.
When the familiar ache of loss brings tears to the surface.
Yet, what a sweet reward it will be to hug our family tight, joyful with our reunion, and settle into a new home.
It won’t be the same as it used to be, but instead a new kind of wonderful.
The beautiful ordinary of life, lived in community with our peeps.
It’s okay to be scared empty nesters
This is a new season, one ripe for change.
Our kids are preparing to leave the nest, and now…so are we.
What is one thing that influences how you make choices at this stage of your life? Please share in the comments, I LOVE to read about YOU!
Check out Chris Stapleton singing Starting Over song here
Empty nest resources
- Empty Nest, Full Life: Discovering God’s Best for Your Next
- Release My Grip: Hope for a Parent’s Heart as Kids Leave the Nest and Learn to Fly
- Empty Besting: Break Through 12 Empty Nest Myths So That You Can Adopt New Truths and Live Your Best Life
- Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children: Trusting God with the Ones You Love
-
From Mom to Me Again: How I Survived My First Empty-Nest Year and Reinvented the Rest of My Life
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In so many ways, I think your move is going to be good for you.
You will have a physical reminder that you are in a new stage of life, and you will have something to focus on (nesting again) to keep you moving past the old stage.
I pray your move will bring you emotionally as well as physically close to your family again.
How exciting!
PS: I got the card you sent. That was very nice of you. I’m still working on a piece of fiction that is a side track from what I want to do for my blog. I hope to finish it in two months or so. Maybe you could do the one about friendship since you have had to move so many times and start over in that area. And I think you make a great friend!
You are such an Encourager Eva! Thank you for that, truly. I am getting excited on many levels, sure beats where I was emotionally a few months ago! Never stop on your writing dreams, one word at a time, eh?
What a great opportunity for you guys! I am so happy for you, selfishly, not so much for me! You guys will be missed, but it will be tempered with knowing the new joy you will be experiencing. It will also give encouragement to those of us who are a bit back from the precipice of change, to face it with the same attitude you are showing when we are at the edge. May the Lord bless you and keep you!
Oh Dawn, thanks so much for encouraging ME! We need it on this journey, it is a huge change for my husband especially, in so many ways.
Yikes!
You are moving. I just read your email when you said your home sold in one day! Wow. So many changes. I am excited for you.
Life is an adventure. I love to hear, well, read your stories.
Excited to see what happens.
And, close to family. Wow.
xo
Pamela
Crazy isn’t it Pamela? We just never know what is coming. God bless you sister, keep up your fantastic art. I LOVE to see you progress