Okay, I confess.  I embraced the Empty Nest concept a little more readily than my husband. A little more joyfully than anyone I know for that matter.  Empty Nesta Fiesta was my mantra!  Taking back over the house, owning all my free time, and living without a need for a schedule around meals (cereal or popcorn for dinner!) is something I took to quite naturally.  I love having two fully grown sons, and found it especially easy to celebrate the empty nest while I still had one in college.  

Our sign is already outdated. Harrison is now back home in Mason Ohio, and Cliff (right) has moved to Portland Oregon!

All that has changed.  As of August, Harrison graduated from college.  He has moved back home with an engineering degree in hand and I am certain he will find a job even as he frets.  We are having a brief interruption from the empty nest status and I find myself enjoying this hiatus with as much or more zeal than before.  It’s so much fun having a son home for lunches and dinners.  One who eats everything I place in front of him and tells me how good the grilled pb&j sandwich is.  That this smoothie is even better than yesterday’s, and that the broccoli is excellent. Harrison has always been a hearty and an appreciative eater but I had forgotten how much that tickles the cook.

There’s a little more joy in my hearth these days.  Sometimes Harrison’s girlfriend Aubrey joins us and then we are four.  We had a sneak preview of this fuller life when Aubrey lived with us for a couple of months this summer after she graduated and landed a job in this area.  What a delight to have a roommate, and one of the female variety was especially a treat, and a new experience for us.  It’s true I did not cook or even act much like a hostess because it was my busy season when I barely touch home base.  But still……it was nice to have her.  She has found an apartment and Harrison is back in his childhood room applying for jobs and building a paver patio on our house after a failed contractor left the site earlier this summer.  (Secretly I am hoping he doesn’t find a job before the patio job is finished.) 

Contentment is a nice feeling to rest in.  Maybe precisely because I know it will not last long, I find myself savoring the time together.  And our family room converted to an empty nest lounge still gets plenty of use!