Yesterday someone asked what it was like to be an “empty nester.”  One of those poor, frazzled people who have a kid in elementary, middle and in high school.  I just smiled and said, “The freedom.”  That is what we like the best, the freedom to do pretty much anything.  Go away for a weekend?  Yes.  Skip dinner and meet friends for wine? Yes.  Go to bed early and get a good nights sleep?  Yes (that last one is not really a freedom, just a perk.)

The truth is, we are not really empty nesters any more, we have a handle on that.  In fact, it has been so long that we are now simply Grandparents.  But I do remember being all weepy and mopey when my last daughter went off to school and even more so when she graduated from college, I think it was the absolute saddest when she said she was not coming back for traditional school break visits – because of course she wasn’t in school, and she had a “real” job and had limited vacations.

Anyway, all that was a while ago and I feel I am fully adjusted.  I am grandmotherly and ready to dispense information on my poor unsuspecting daughter who is now entering her second year of motherhood.

So to the poor fellow who asked me what it was like to be an empty nester?  I say it is just grand, thank-you-very-much!

(Prompt words: Dispense, freedom, handle.  Could not fit in spying?  Any editorial suggestions to make that happen?)