When Brad and I became empty nesters we weren't sure how we would we do individually and as a couple. I am happy to say we are doing just fine and on most days we are even doing fantastic (don't tell the boys)! The one thing that surprised us more than we thought though, was how the noise level went down considerably in the house. Now Brad is not a quiet person (he will tell you otherwise) but he can't make enough noise to sound like Lane and Drew and their friends. We decided we needed to do something about the noise level. But how?
I solved this problem on our first Father's day as EmptyNesters. I got Brad a TV wall so he could watch three sporting events at the same time. As a result , the noise level went up in our house tremendously. We knew we had not exactly solved our problem but it definitely helped and Brad was very very happy.
A bigger issue for Brad though, was that he would come home now and I would be involved in whatever project I had started that day and not even realized he had arrived. That was a problem for Brad. When the boys were little they would be so excited when Brad would come home from work they would run to the door when they heard him. Brad soon realized how much he really missed this greeting.
Then I had an epiphany. I would be his "WalMart" greeter. So every night when I hear the garage door going up, I go to welcome him home. Now I know most of you are gagging at this point. But he is so happy when I meet him and sometimes he even comes home with flowers!! Most importantly, since it is just the 2 of us at home now, I have realized it is the small stuff that counts.
One time though, we did have a problem, I opened the door to greet him at the same time he was opening the door to come in. We both screamed and jumped up. So from now on, he must call me from the driveway to announce his arrival.
Also, it took him awhile, but he now greets me when I come home from Girls Night Out or Mah Jong and I never have flowers for him!
Happy Empty Nesting!!