Update from the nest

It's been over a week since I left Knoxville to come back to my nest. And yes, it has felt very empty at times. But I have also been reminded of many ways that my life is full:

• My mom inviting me over for dinner the first night I was back
• Friends inviting me to hang out on a Friday night making bracelets
• More friends having a birthday get-together
• My sister calling and texting to check on me
• Erica conveniently having a birthday last week (I got two invitations out of that one)
• A job that I enjoy, working with people who care about me
• Being able to exercise and keep those endorphins pumping

I could go on and on. And I'll confess that I haven't spent the whole time counting my blessings, but when I have remembered to do that, it has shown me how rich my life is.

The other thing I have done to fill my time was to "rearrange" some things in Daniel's room. I didn't throw anything much away (only a tiny pile of truly unnecessary papers) and just straightened and moved some things around. I took pictures to text to Daniel and have already gotten his stamp of approval. Turns out his room is going to be getting some use as a guest room with some friends coming from out of town in the next couple of weeks, so that was my motivation.

I moved the trophies from this shelf and created a new "Graduation" vingnette

All of the trophies found a new home on top of the bookshelf

As for the college guy, he seems to be doing very well and is getting acclimated to his new surroundings. I'm still trying to find the right balance of communicating with him (I am erring on the side of not calling/texting very much so that I'm not a "helicopter" parent), but he seems to not mind when I shoot him a quick text or email and has called with a long conversation to tell me about his first day of classes last week. In fact, we're planning to talk tonight, so I'm looking forward to hearing more of what he's been up to.

I think the communication thing has been the most difficult thing about this transition. For almost ten years, I've been used to Daniel being at his dad's house for a two or three nights every week, so not having him here every night hasn't been that hard. But not hearing about his day, every day, and not having the normal conversations of daily life with him, I miss that a lot. But we'll find a new groove and with today's technology, we definitely will be in touch more often than when I was at college (once a week, long-distance phone calls and occasional letters were our form of communication).

In fact, that brings me to one last thought:  I have felt this great need to apologize to my mom for how I must have acted when I went to college. I remember saying good-bye without tears and being so excited to get involved in college life. And they left me to drive 1000 miles back home to New Jersey! I now know how hard that must have been for my parents (and sister), so since they read this blog, this is my public acknowledgement that I was a silly college kid who has now seen the error of her ways! I love you Mom and Jeanette! Thanks for walking with me as I take a turn being the parent with a college student excited to leave the nest!