One and Done Empty Nesters

           Image by DreamersNight   We feel like we have a ghost living with us. OK, it's only been three weeks since we dropped our one-and-only child, Mia, off for her freshman year of college. But I still find myself quickly turning off my alarm clock in the morning so it doesn't wake her up, or expecting her to burst through the door talking to me loudly at full speed without noticing that I'm on a work call. I also find myself wondering whether she is going to like the dinner I'm fixing tonight (probably not). My husband, Mark, watches out for her car when he's backing out of the driveway, forgetting it's not there, and has caught himself looking for her in her room.  We both expect to be awakened in the middle of the night when she very loudly gets up to go to the bathroom. I hope she has learned to be quieter for her roommates. In other words, the ghost of our daughter is still living with us. That idea of dropping off our kid at ...

"You sent your only child off to college in the middle of a pandemic?!"  This is one of the questions/comments/insinuated looks I've gotten from people in the past few weeks, as no doubt many of you with college kids have, too.  Those of us with kids in college, especially who have become new empty nesters in a pandemic, have a different perspective.  For one, we know that our kids are likely to be more protected on campus than running around their hometown. My daughter is smart and responsible, but she can be swayed by peer pressure to not wear a mask or social distance. At school, they are required to wear masks inside and out on campus, and she is living on campus where there are lots of restrictions due to COVID-19 (and frequent cleaning!)  Most classes are online, but the ones that are in person take many precautions (I would post a photo of my daughter in the ridiculously large "singing" mask that they are required to wear in her vocal class but I won'...

That's a pretty apt title for dropping our one-and-only child off at college for her freshman year. In one fell swoop, we dealt for the first time with a child leaving home AND the shock of becoming empty nesters. No easing in to it by returning home to a second child. Just rip off that Band-Aid right now. This blog is dedicated to not only new empty nesters but especially those with one-and-onlys. We're in a special kind of shock. And yes, even though it's just one person we've lost from our household, the house is eerily quiet! I suddenly realize the amount of energy that one chattering voice at the dinner table brought to our home.  So now we begin the adventure of college through our daughter's eyes while adjusting to home with just the two of us. Who will talk first at the dinner table?