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Baby Boomers All Over The World Are Celebrating!
Today there are millions of Baby Boomers emerging from the haze of our hectic lives and moving towards the life we’ve worked so hard for. We finally have that empty nest, which was emotionally hard at first, but now, by dang we are loving it!
We raised our kids, they survived. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it!
We carried them for 9 months each and have the stretch marks to prove it. We changed diapers, sat up all night with colic, potty trained, taught them to walk and talk. Played horsey, peek-a-boo and hide and seek more times than we really wanted. We built tents out of sheets and forts out of boxes. We kissed boo boos and went through a million Ninja Turtle & Barbie band-aids. In my case, called the Poison Control line a time or two. We checked for monsters under the bed or in the closet while trying to convince them what they saw on TV was not real.
We played tooth fairy, Santa clause, Easter bunny. We went to school plays, dance recitals, soccer games, volleyball matches, football games, and occasionally the principal’s office. We put up with their quirks and moods. We refereed fights that involved; “he looked at me,’ ‘She breathed on me,’ ‘Don’t come in my room,’ ‘Mom, make her stop.” Fun times! At this point in their lives the thought of them ever leaving home was unbearable.
We lived through the awkward years and their missing teeth, telling them how cute they were while trying not to laugh. We have encouraged and discouraged when appropriate. We let them learn some things the hard way such as forgetting to feed the fish.
We had dogs, cats, fish, birds and hamsters a time or two. And if you are like me, gave some of them away due to stress and lied about what really happened to them. We’ve said things like, “Do your homework,’ ‘Wait till your daddy gets home’ and ‘If you don’t eat your vegetables there will be no TV tonight.”
Then the day came when they were the size of adults with the brain of a 15 year old. We lost track of how many times we were talking to the wall. We lived through the rolling of the eyes and the stomping out of the room. When getting grounded was more punishment for us than them. Because it meant having to be around a miserable kid trying to make you miserable for grounding them in the first place.
We suffered through the years when they knew so much more than we did, while constantly being reminded of how lame we were. Having to explain why we couldn’t afford something that “everyone else” had. We found ourselves saying, “If everyone was jumping off a bridge would you?”
Teaching them to drive. Oh, lawd have mercy! Not to mention with a stick shift. Teaching them to save their money to buy their own car. Finally the day comes when they get their drivers license and we are scared to death when they take their first solo ride to the corner store. Soon you start to notice that everybody wanted to be their friend and needed rides with your car and your gas.
Then suddenly you find yourself in the dating years. This is a whole other book, so I will break it down into two sections) 1. Broken hearts & 2. Breaking hearts. The ones that you don’t like, they like. They ones you like, they don’t like. Our opinion was not at all considered.
Waiting up till they got home imagining every possible scenario for them being 1 minute late. If they were an hour late, (no cell phones then), we pictured them in a ditch somewhere and are to the point of hysterics, when they come bee bopping in without a care in the world. We always made sure they had pay phone money, but they never used it to call home.
We became detectives as they got older. We out smarted them more than they thought. 🙂 We told them there was nothing they could get passed us because we had been there and done that. BIG MISTAKE!!!!! Hindsight tells us that was only a challenge to them.
We searched their rooms, pockets & purses. Not recommended, unless you can handle the truth. We had spyware installed on our family computer. Especially not recommended!!!! BECAUSE YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!! All we could do was pray! And pray everyday!
I believe that the Lord wants us to go through the teenage years, so we will be ready for them to leave! 😉
Then the day comes when they move out. Whether it is for marriage or just getting their own apartment. There is no word to describe this emotion, unless “I don’t know how I feel'” is an emotion.
We shed some tears and mope around for a little while not quite knowing what to do with ourselves.
But then we start thinking about what we are going to do with their room!!! SEWING ROOM!!!!! You get it all set up and you are so excited only to get the phone call that says they want to move back home. Goodbye sewing room.
Then the next kid moves out. SEWING ROOM AGAIN!!! Three months later, Goodbye sewing room.
I want my sewing room!
Most of our homes had a revolving door. For some of us, the revolving door was magic because sometimes they move back in with a little mini me. Yeppers, they leave, multiply and return. These were the days that made it especially difficult for our adult children to understand, “This is my house and as long as you live here, these are my rules!”
Whew, I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted reliving all of the above. But, now the day is here when our children have finally flown off, living their own lives with their own families. Just starting the above list with their kids.
Fly babies fly!!!!
You can now walk around in your underwear and scratch your butt IN YOUR OWN HOUSE, and nobody cares. The house stays clean and tidy with much less laundry. The grocery bill goes down as we have to learn how to cook for just two.
Now this is living!!!
We love our kids more than life itself, but we are so ready for them to fly!
Baby Boomers kids did not have:
- Computers
- Cell phones
- IPods
- Cable (3 channels only)
- Internet
- Play Stations
- Wii
- DVDs
- DS
- Facebook – They actually went outside to play with their friends!
- Video chat
- Digital cameras
- No telling what else
Now the Baby Boomers have all of the above!
As I like to say; “We have our computers and we are not afraid to us them!!!”
My question to you is this. Why do I have two guest rooms and no sewing room? Is there a hidden fear that if I set my sewing room it up again, they will return??? Hmmmm
Why are we called Baby Boomers? Check out our historic beginning here.
8 Comments
Sophie, my daughter did the same thing but she tried rooming with a friend before moving back home. Let’s just say they are better friends “not living together” I have been fine not having a sewing room (sort of). But when I get on a sewing and craft kick, it is very hard to manage it in my kitchen. I like my things super organized and the kitchen table is not cutting it. No pun intended 🙂
Thank you very much Francene, that means a lot coming from you! And yes it is true, once a mother, always a mother.
Alana, As you can see, I waited years to write this article because I wouldn’t have wanted them to feel bad. Now I can talk about it and they just laugh because it’s all true. I love my kids and grand kids. It’s one of the reasons that I have kept myself deprived of that elusive sewing room. It is the only room with a queen bed. The other room has 2 twin beds. Therefore, were will my son and his wife sleep if they come to town????? A blow up mattress???? 🙂
This is really great! I left home at 18 when I went away to university to study nursing. I couldn’t have made a worse career choice and moved back two years later! We don’t have a sewing room 😛
Wonderful article. You should win a prize with this one. My kids moved out of home far too early. As a young mum, I was hardly the one to criticize. But it left me alone far too early, and set up plenty of heartache (which never ends, by the way). I guess the lack of a sewing room demonstrates that once a mother, always a mother.
You want to know something hysterical – I hit the “send Facebook” button and the name that was right there was – my son’s! (yes, I’m an empty nester). I wonder why? Coincidence? Or the universe trying to tell me something? So I am going to share this on my blog page, instead. He doesn’t read my blog (gulp, I hope).
Now, as to my son, who is in his 20’s and has been out of the house 2 years this August. (May I not be jinxing this.) He still has tons of stuff at the house and shows up every once in a while to get something he decided he needs. Right now his room is sort-of a guest room. I’m too lazy to do anything else right now. So go ahead and set up that sewing room. You have more energy than I do!
Well folks you heard it yourself from one of my kids that it is safe to set up my sewing room! 🙂
“That’s our story and we’re sticking to it!” bahahaha Seriously! Reclaim your kitchen and SET UP THE SEWING ROOM!!! I have been out of yall’s home for over 10yrs. I think it is safe, NOW I feel confident in speaking for Matt Wolfmeyer and Amy K. Wolfmeyer that none of us will be moving back into Mickey Brown’s home lol jk Well, Not really! SET UP THE SEWING ROOM!!!!