It really is empty

It is the end of August and for many that means returning to school, the beginning of fall, the end of summer.

I have always welcomed that. By Labor Day I was tired of the lack of routine the summer months bring, the plaintive sighs that "there's nothing to do, I am bored", nagging to get summer reading done, the sleepy mornings because I stayed up too late with my kids who did not have to get up. School starting was good.

But that was before school starting meant dropping your children off at some distant location to sleep in a strange room with strange new faces -- that was long before my youngest child left for college.

Confessions of an empty nester -- I am not so sure I like this school year.

But I am finding quiet comfort in talking to the many other Moms who are feeling the exact same way. Walking in their son or daughter's room and feeling the emptiness in the pit of your stomach. Knowing that even though they will come home it will be on a temporary pass, a visitor if not a guest and they will never again occupy the house in the same way. Childhood as we knew it and loved it, is over.

So because I am having so many feelings about this unique, bittersweet time of life what better way to move through it than to reflect on it in all of its many facets -- both the melancholy times and the fun ones.

Our sons and daughters will be growing up and isn't that what we always wanted for them? They will make new friends, share new experiences, learn new life lessons and value some of the old and through it all we can watch, listen, and maybe grow a little ourselves.

But come on Matt, is it really so hard to call home?