Since the boys have left home (Drew still officially lives here but Lane does not), Brad and I have been sad then happy and busy but lonely. We did finally find our groove and we are enjoying every minute of empty nesting while at the same time appreciating our time with the boys.
Unfortunately, Brad's father passed away in August. He was a huge part of all our lives and we had a tremendous hole in our hearts. We were missing him terribly when my sister asked us to watch their dog, Reese. Her family was going away for the long weekend and did not want to board Reese. We loved Reese but we had never been with him for more than a couple of hours so we were very hesitant but my sister said pretty please and for that we said "Yes". We had no idea how much more we needed her to "babysit" us then we needed to "babysit" her.
Having Reese in the house made our empty nest a full house again. She made both of us forget how sad we were. Reese came to our house at the perfect time. She was perfect. The problem was us.
Over the weekend, I would not leave the house because I got so attached to Reese. I skipped exercise. I made my Saturday Starbucks coffee group come to my house for coffee. We cancelled plans. We basically did nothing but play and stare at her. Just like when the boys were babies.
We even let her sleep with us. In fact, one night I did not think she was breathing. I woke Brad up and then we both freaked out so we woke Reese up. Needless to say she was breathing and thought we were ready to get up and play. That was a first kid (dog) rookie parent mistake. Never wake a sleeping baby or dog.
We did go out on Saturday night but Brad and I both had upset stomachs the whole time and we felt so guilty. All we could think about was her face in the window when we left.
When we had to give her back and we were an empty nest again, we almost felt like we did when the boys left. It was different though because we knew how to make ourselves feel better. We called Lane and met him for dinner!
Happy Empty Nesting!!
