My mother had been a Lt. Colonel in the WAAC’s and then Air Force before my twin sister and I were born. In those days, women had to leave the service when they became pregnant. She was an older stay-home Mom in the fifties and sixties, a lonely estate for a woman who had previously had an exciting career. She suffered from clinical depression, and when we went off to college, her empty nest was empty indeed.

I was always afraid of having kids, staying home, and the empty nest because the blueprint I had been given was not very promising. I was determined to NOT follow in my Mother’s footsteps.

I had a corporate career prior to my son, then stayed home with him, and sent him off to college last year. But my empty nest has been full—like an overflowing bucket list. My new career is a college and career counselor. I wrote a blog post on the empty nest called “Graduation, Rites of Passage and Letting Go,” (www.tiny.cc/collegeblog) that you and your readers might enjoy.