BOY!!...I miss 'em...

The Chambers children have matured with inordinate pressure. Dad has asked that they pursue their dreams, focus on passions, remain true to their foundations. I haven’t asked that they remain near, nor that they perform to a special level of expectation. This past week, I was fortunate to spend time with some other delightful children…Meghan and Carleigh Wade. It taught me a lot about my own kids, and the special place that children hold in my heart.

Meghan and Carleigh have grown up while we ‘older parents’ have watched Curt & Polly learn how. Whether Steve and I talk about Nate and Zachary much, we know what it was like to have a ten year-old….and the darling Wade girls have several parents watching over them that they don’t think about often. The same is true for “the lovely Miss Hayley Schlager.’ It must be difficult to wonder what others expect when those others are not around very much. None of these kids realize how often we speak of them, how much we care about their development. They focus on the latest Skate Night, football game, or dance recital. Can Philip graduate on time...? Will Christine manage her life toward San Diego, or determine another pathway?

Me? People tell me that the empty nest syndrome will pass. At the same time, I look back and see that I had serious health issues when Vickie went off to college. Then, I pursued my own graduate degree, making myself more busy than I deserved. Now, I enjoy watching Connor and Caleb learn new things on the sporting green…or hardwood…of Vancouver. Does that mean I’ve learned how to better manage the empty nest?

Not likely…..

I just hope that my kids understand…whether they are sitting in the rain watching a Navy game…or fighting the howling gale on a Colorado mountain…or killing time on an airplane toward a nursing destination…that I’m with them every minute. I’ll never win the empty nest battle. I’ll walk with them to their car after a night class. I’ll stand alongside while they wait for someone to order wine in a restaurant. I’ll talk with them, quietly, when they ask a patient if there is anything that can be done to make them more comfortable.

And I will not apologize. Kelsey came over for dinner a week or so ago…and I had to make sure there were Oreo’s in the cookie jar. We talked about Dynamite soccer. Meaghan won’t like “Mr. Chambers” explaining rules on dating to her parents. Hayley has no idea how often I check on her volleyball team’s results. My parents have a different world…the kids they wanted to follow were just down the street. If I moved off to college, they could wonder what Ronnie Rule would do next. Lompoc provides a continual stream of young people, thank goodness…and those of us who move away want to know more about our extended families than might seem healthy at first.

But we still do….wonder. Enjoy. Derive immense pleasure.

I thank them all…these children that make life worth living. Mine. Yours. Ours.