Empty-Nest Chronicles: Empty-Nest at 40

On March 3, I celebrated my 40^th birthday. Three months from now my son will take his walk across the stage for his high school diploma, and I’ll officially be an empty-nester. Did I mention that I’m 40?

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When people learn that I have a child in college and one who is about to graduate high school, they gasp and ask, “How old are you? You look too young to have a child in college or high school.” I then inform them that I started my family at the age of 20. “Oh. You were so young. At least now you’ll get to do all the things you didn't get to do when you were in your 20s.”

Their comments lead me to Google the following:

• How old are empty nesters?
• The young empty nester
• What age are empty nesters

One study reported, “Approximately 6 in 10 householders in Prosperous Empty-Nesters neighborhoods are aged 55 years or older.” 

A Huffington Post article placed empty-nesters in the age bracket of 40 – 70. (See: Empty-Nesters Are Actually Living Life to the Fullest.) 

After reading some of the articles, I figured that it's alright that I am 40 and about to have an empty nest. So why do I feel like I am too young to have an empty nest?

To be honest, I am quite content that I had my kids at a young age. It's easier to talk to them about life. It's easier to relate to their concerns. And they have admitted to me that I am easier to talk to because I'm not too old and set in my ways. 

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As a 40 year-old empty-nester the world is my oyster but I don't plan on doing all of the things I couldn't do in my 20s. Partying, staying out until the break of dawn three nights in a row, and experimenting with substances that will take my mind on an hallucinative trip isn't something I want to put my body through. Instead, I am going to make a couple of attempts to do all the things people said I couldn't because I was a young mother of two.  

I'll keep you posted.
-- TCsViews

• Are you a young empty-nester? Are you a child who just left the nest?

• Do you feel like you/your parents don't fit the mold of a typical empty-nester?

• What do you plan on doing with your life now that your kids are gone?

Submit your answers below or e-mail your comments to TCsViews@gmail.com.

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