Not facing that yet; my sister and a few of hers live with me and my daughter. Sis's youngest was born while she lived here, so he's like a son to me. But I AM ready for the adult kids to move on. My daughter, 19 now, has expressed the desire to get a good local job and 'split the rent' with me. She's devoted.

I've made it clear to all that they need to do what's best for THEM, I'll make do without issue. Sister wants to take over the household expenses so I can retire(!), since I bailed her out of a bad deal and had her back for so many years. I'd be OK with four in the house, two in the house, or alone. (Of course, the advantage to FOUR would be a more comfy retirement, lol!)

I don't see any luggage on those bikes. Don't you know that utilizing a sag wagon is cheating? Unless you were racing, that is. Oh, you were actually racing each other? Suuure you were.

No, it's either NorCal or SoCal...depending on location.

Rules are rules!

GO TROJANS...FIGHT ON.

2017 Rose Bowl Champions. :love:

We were empty nesters for about 6 years. Albeit with the luxury of having the grandkids a 10 minute drive away. Currently we are a multi-generation house. My son and his family moved in at the beginning of the school year. Their plan is to move to Denver after the current school year joining his siblings already living there. It is about 2000 miles away. I have a son and a daughter living in Denver area now. So with the whole gang living in metro Denver and potentially more grandchildren there, Grandma and I will be following shortly. My goal in life is to watch my grandchildren grow up.

I consider myself blessed that I can look forward to living in close proximity to my kids and grandkids. Bonus that Denver seems to have a pretty good bike culture and a well developed bike trail system. I took a road trip last summer that included a week in Denver visiting with my kids there. Took my folding bike along for the ride and put over 50 miles on it while there.

We have been "empty nesters" for a about three years now, however, we are fortunate to have both our married children and two grandchildren living in the same area so we see them often. My wife recently retired from teaching after more than 30 years. She wanted to do something with purpose in her retirement, possibly using her skills acquired from teaching and raising two great kids so we both decided to get licensed for foster care. Flash-forward the last 18 months and we have been fostering a wonderful 9 year old girl who, due to attachment-detachment issues in the foster care system, has not functioned well in environments with other children. She seems to thrive in living with a couple of 50+ types. We just started the process of adopting her.

It is scary, sobering, and possibly stretches the definition of mental sanity when we think of what we are getting ourselves in to. However, we have come to love this little girl as our own. She makes us feel young and has showed us that life as a parent does not have to end when our biological children have grown. In some ways it can be better as we have more wisdom, time and financial resources we had wished we had when our bio-children were young.

My point is that if empty nesting is tough for you there are other options and a huge need for those who are willing to share their love and time. Fostering is not for everyone, but for some, it can change the lives of others as well as your own.

You did well if both of your sons are graduated from college and working. Many children that age are still living at home. It's too bad they couldn't find jobs nearer to home (or perhaps they wanted to live on the west coast), but that's the job market these days -- and it's been that way for a long time. I am retiring at the end of this month after working for 40 years, and I moved several times during my first few years of work. Much of my family lives in Georgia, and that's where I went to college, but I ended up in North Carolina. It's a great place for cycling.

:thumb: may God bless.

our 2 are going back to school at the end of the week & I got real sad at the grocery store last night cuz there was little for me to buy & I got nostalgic thinking about when they 1st came home in December & how we needed to stock up on their favorites

My oldest is in grad school for a PhD in engineering and no longer near home.

My youngest just graduated with an engineering degree in December. She's on a graduation ski trip now and starts work as an engineer end of the month.

We love it when they're home, we're loving watching them succeed and we're enjoying the spontaneity we used to have before kids. Both of us retire in this coming year and can't wait for all the fun skiing, biking, sailing trips we've got planned.

So, while I'd have to say when the kids first left the nest it was hard, but there are benefits that compensate so it's not worse, it's just different. It's the next stage....

J.