empty nest

empty nest. this is what my husband and i in our younger and hipper:) years would have called a....true-ism. so what does it mean to have an empty nest in the loup household?

1....the kids' rooms are in the process of being transformed into the more generic "guest bedrooms".....all except our oldest son's that is. nicholas. what can i say. this is the largest of the three rooms...situated at the end of the long hall of the "children's wing" we added onto the house after the birth of our second child. the walls still sport indiana jones, totogal loves ikc duckhunter (charlie's contribution from his months of habitation there after abandoning his old room for the "cave" in the months before his marriage). risajoy actually had a stint in the room also when she moved back home for the months before her marriage. i wanted them to have the privacy it afforded them as they were young adults living with mom and dad. but i digress. the walls. yes, the walls still sport the aforementioned action hero. let's see.. we have the grand canyon panorama, zelda, empire strikes back, u2 of course, lord of the rings (risa's contribution i believe), lord leighton's gal reclining in the orange dress with the sheer bodice through which we can see one boobie (the TASTEFUL girlie pin-up). and the loosely arranged conglomeration of various and sundry stickers from record albums and such... which is, i might add, in the running for emancipation along with the assortment of stickers from various fruits that adorn the adjacent bathroom door frame. at night when the lights are turned off the ceiling glows with stars and planets...those wonderful childhood stickers. i still love that. this room also contains the precious family baby bed chuck and i hauled down from it's 20 year hiatus in the attic and put back together again with the help of our ever-resourceful charlie who rigged up a replacement mattress hook from fishing line or something. nic's drums also reside there, the game cube with tv for the step-grandboys' entertainment, along with a bed (for guests of course).

so while nic's old room remains in the baby/child/young adult-friendly mode, i have claimed charlie's old room as my study....one of my secret/prayer places where resides our old comfy lazyboy recliner, oodles of books, worship cd's & player, personal writings and other personal memorabilia....and a bed (for guests of course). risa's old room has been transformed into the fancy guest room, except that at the moment her wedding dress is flipped over the back of the rocker after nicholas removed it from the closet to stash yet another set of drums in there. well, you see....i'm workin' on it.

in spite of this continual process of transformation, all of the rooms still hold ...stuff. the stuff of the youthful lives of our three beloved offspring. the stuff they left behind. echos of years gone by. oh, i'm sure eventually the rooms and the closets and the shelves will empty themselves, all that stuff.... trickling away until ............okay waves of nostalgia....moving right along...

2. the only dirty dishes i have to load into the dishwasher...which my husband simply REFUSES to condescend to do....are his...and mine of course.

3. laundry detergent never runs out.

4. we can walk around nude if we want to....even though those days are definitely over (having kids in the house will sure cure ya of that one:)...but it's still very freeing to know that we can...if we want.

5. we can make as much noise in the bedroom as we want to (blush-blush). forgot how much that does enhance your sex life...ahem. oh, and not worry about locking the door.

6. wonder of wonders, after a short adjustment, my husband and i have settled into this new appreciation for each other. seemed an elusive kind of thing, although it was definitely hoped for. it's funny how it just sort of happened. we are actually becoming best friends...again:) during the child raising years....which i thoroughly enjoyed and would not trade for anything in the world....we sort of drifted apart...just a tad. me, being the kid-ho-friendly person i am, i just sort of got lost in the raising of them. oh, chuck was there...our provider, my continual rock and support and partner of course in the whole process. but he being he, and me being me....well, that's just the way it was for us. he tended to get lost in his work of providing. i tended to get lost in my work of nurturing. and we made it. we actually made it...amazing. and so here we are. how thankful i am for this husband God has blessed me with. he is a pillar for me. loves me and supports me and remains faithful to me still. when he looks at me i can see the admiration in his eyes. he actually snuggles with me......whaaat???! why he cemented the posts in the holes today for my secret garden, poured the cement pad for my new laundry sink outside the cake shop. he is ACTUALLY entering into the several little projects i have lined up for the betterment and beautification of our home. and he is doing it for ME. who is this person? ahhhh.....so i really didn't lose him along the way. he has been here... and yet he is back again. paradox and...most definitely......a true-ism.