My youngest is going to be away tonight on a Girl Scout overnight at a nature center. So, of course, I asked her last night if she were packed and ready. I made sure she knew to take a sleeping bag and pillow. She assured me that she had things under control. That’s the way I like it. She’s pretty good about such things, so I left her to her own devices.
This morning, just as we needed to leave, she informed me that she didn’t have anything to pack her things in as her sister had taken the duffle bag she usually uses. I gently upbraided her for putting off finding a suitcase until the last minute. Then, I dutifully went up to the attic and found her something to use. Several more times over the next ten minutes, I reminded her not to forget her sleeping bag. Soon we were in the car on the way to school, late, as usual. Halfway there, my daughter informed me that she had forgotten her sleeping bag. Then she looked at me and declared that it was ok…she didn’t mind being cold.
At work, I looked at my schedule and determined that I could get away at lunch and grab the sleeping bag and get it to her so that she wouldn’t freeze overnight. After picking up the sleeping bag, when I was halfway to her school, it dawned on me that she didn’t have a coat, gloves, hat, or boots. It is only in the last month that she asked me to buy her some jeans…up until then, she was a shorts and t-shirt-only girl…year ’round.
At school, I walked back to the middle school to drop off the sleeping bag and ran into her teacher. We had a brief discussion about how my daughter didn’t have a coat…and likely at a nature center, even at night, the plan would be to spend some time outside. We also agreed that she claims to never be cold. Since it turned out that my daughter was in gym class, I walked to the opposite end of the school to find out if she wanted me to come back at 5 with her coat.
She was grateful for the sleeping bag and assured me she’d be fine with no coat, so I went back to work and tried not to worry about her. I dug into my work, thinking how great it was that I didn’t have to worry about when to leave since I didn’t have to pick my daughter up from school after work. Just like when I would be an empty-nester! So, I stopped clock-watching, and next thing I knew, it was 6 p.m. on a Friday night and the office was empty.
So, I wonder if this whole empty nest thing has any silver lining after all. I had no plans for the evening…but that could be good; an evening to myself might be just what the doctor ordered. I thought about what I’d most like to have for dinner and settled on sushi. I called my favorite place and soon enough picked up my Dragon Valley Roll and two orders (hey, no judging!) of shumai. Back home I turned on the TV and fired up Xfinity On Demand…I caught up on my favorite TV shows, then called it a night.
Find the Joy in the Journey…and figure out from the small steps just exactly what you really want for the rest of your life!
Laura's Adventures After 50! 