At 9am this past Saturday morning, my Daughter and her four closest friends were on a plane to the Caribbean. Making me the proud owner of a temporary empty nest.

Spring Break. Woo Hoo.

So how did out temporary empty nest start out? Well, after I put my daughter into a car at 5:45, I went back to sleep for an hourish. Yes, I like an early start to the day. But having gotten up at 5 to talk to my daughter as she got ready was even pushing it for me.

Then I read the paper.

I went to the gym.

Then we went to an exhibit. Kim- this will be of interest to you: The Morgan Library in New York is doing a Tolkien exhibit- drawings, letters, family photos. Very cool, and very crowded exhibit. And they are doing a themed lunch! So my husband and I split Shire food- eggs not broken, peppered beef, twice baked honey cafes, mead. I am a lover of cider so I became a big fan of mead. I’m looking forward to walking into a bar and asking for a tankard of their finest mead…..

When we were done, it was 3pm. My Husband looked at me and said: “What do you want do to do now?”

And so begins the tale of what our life will be like in August.

I said that I would be perfectly happy going home, reading, maybe find something to watch on TV. Chilling out. Husband asked- “Do you want to go out tonight?” And I could think of no compelling reason to go out. I knew I wasn’t going to be that hungry for dinner. There were no movies that both my Husband and I would enjoy. I didn’t want to go out for the sake of going out…

But what do empty nesters do at night?

I normally go out one night, maybe two a week. My Husband is often out more. He’s not a stay at home sort of person. And back in the day, I used to go out most nights. I used to like it.

Now?

I realized that part of the reason I don’t go out at night is because I have had a kid in the house. But part of the reason is that I just don’t want to go out at night all that often. I like reading. I like writing. I learned how to embroider this year and it’s pretty fun.  But is this going to be enough to keep me occupied for the rest of my life?

So we stayed home Saturday night. I made a simple and light dinner. We watched a silly murder mystery show on TV. And it was fine.

But will it be enough?