empty nest
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Retirement Gifts for Women: Finding Peace and Purpose
Retirement Gifts for Women: Finding Peace and Purpose in a New Season When you stand at the threshold of a new chapter, looking back at decades of dedication and looking forward to an open horizon, you might wonder what kind of tribute truly honors this moment. If you are searching for thoughtful retirement gifts for women that go far beyond the usual tokens and plaques, you are likely looking for something that touches the heart. Finding the right retirement gifts for women—whether you are looking for high-end retirement gifts or simply classy retirement gifts for women—often means looking for an offering that honors a woman’s enduring identity, her quiet strength, and the beautiful…
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What Do You Give a Graduate Who Needs More Than a Celebration?
There is a particular kind of worry that settles into a parent somewhere around graduation season — not the kind you talk about at the party, but the kind that finds you in the kitchen at night, long after the dishes are done, thinking about your child and what comes next for them. You have watched them grow up. You have watched them struggle and push through and figure things out, sometimes with your help and sometimes very much without it, the way kids have to when they are becoming their own person. And now they are standing at the edge of something enormous, and you are proud — genuinely,…
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Food. It’s All About the Food
It may have looked as if I was trying to win him over through his stomach, those few days before Thanksgiving, when I was buying ready-made foods (like Bosco sticks and frozen chicken won tons, sourdough frozen pretzels, chunky applesauce (cinnamon)) but I wasn’t. I was just thinking, and worried about standing in the kitchen all day preparing meals that just couldn’t come out of the oven fast enough, while my son, who hasn’t been home in maybe 6 weeks, would be hungry. So, I was just trying to be prepared. But of course, his brothers teased me and said, so, I see how it is. He comes home, starts…
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Being a Part of Something Bigger
While researching an article for a client on improving employee retention, I came across a highly-researched and in-depth article on the need to inspire employees intrinsically. The further I read, I realized I was heading down one of those time-stealing rabbit holes that I often do, when I am more interested in the article personally, and the article may have very little to do with the topic I’m writing for, and I should hurry up and stop reading before I’ve wasted hours and have nothing to show for my time. So, I pinned it for a later read. But to make sure I truly don’t forget about what the article…
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Graduation is Saturday
This Saturday… he is graduating. From college… It’s been a slow four years. It’s been a fast four years. It was a tender time… of learning to breathe with him not in the house… and then learning to breathe when he was in the house. He went away… and I ached… and then Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny — and all kinds of breaks brought him back in… and I ached at the close of those breaks when I knew he would be leaving again… If I weren’t so busy, I could sit here and cry … for a long time… over the gratefulness I feel for the roads we…
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What Moms Don’t Tell
Honestly, going through this phase of motherhood — there’s no delicate way to put it — is painful. They are adamant about paving their own way through the world, and no amount of blueberry pancakes or snicker doodles is going to draw them back. When the meals go uneaten, day after day, in favor of Taco Bell, and bags of Jerky, I turn my head so I can avoid the pain, and choose not to pick this battle — not worth it when there are many other important ones. But, it’s a longer journey than I thought it would be, and I don’t think I brought along enough supplies. We…
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A Scattering of Memories
They scatter like pieces of glitter. Suddenly, the thought of gathering them all together for a group shot is just about as horrifying as being dropped out in the middle of an ocean and fighting the waves to get back to shore. In the midst of the chaos I was grateful to hear my name called up to his room, and given a bottle of rubber cement, and asked to help glue the pictures to his collage. The pictures he picked out himself, out of the scads of snapshots we have collected from his life. So at 11:39 pm, we were gluing photos together in his room, at the…
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Officially, I’m Not Waking My Kids Up Anymore
This was a HARD morning. With the rain, traffic moves slower. No matter where you live, or what decade it is, traffic moves slower, and traffic is heavier, whenever it rains. I learned this back in the 80s, when I was just starting in the working world, and have never found it not to be true. And, so, as I woke the boys up this morning, during one of my, “going-back-upstairs-trips-to-tell-them-to-get-up-again” rounds, I told them, today, you have to get up earlier. It’s raining. My knee is sore from climbing the stairs. My ears are echoing with the yells I made while I was busy turning off a burner on…
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The Handprints On The Front Door Are Missing
I found this post in my “drafts”… written October 2, 2015. For some reason, I never published this story. I think what happened, is that the minute I wrote this, the front door started to get dirty with fingerprints again, and the boys were back at it. Then Pokemon Go hit (which I loved because they were outside). But now, the stillness has settled in for good. The boys across the street rarely come to play and there are miniature grown-ups focused on school work here. They’re more tired at night. The glass on the front door stays clean: there are fewer and fewer raps on the door from the…
