What am I going to do with an empty nest?

Kristen,

Gosh, time has flown by! Just read your post about having two HS grads— I think I started reading your Frugal Girl when everyone was a baby!

Zoe and me around the time I started blogging

So, I was just wondering if you had been doing any advanced planning for an empty nest? Or wising, dreaming?

Potentially, this could be in (yikes) FOUR years?

Are you thinking of a new career? travel? writing a book? teaching?

Have you thought about getting a graduate degree? fixing up houses to flip? Shifting gears and going to work at a corporation? starting your own cupcake company? Joining the Peace Corps? Backpacking thru Europe or Asia?

So much of your time has been put into raising a house full of lovely kids–and cooking from scratch and your blog and homeschooling. What’s next?

Millicent

My kids ten years ago (plus a cousin!)

Yep, Zoe starts high school in the fall, so in four years, all of my kids will have graduated high school.

I’m not positive I will have an empty nest by then; it all depends how many kids choose to live at home while pursuing a college degree.

The girls and me 7 years ago

Sonia has big plans for a scientific career of some sort, which means a pretty long stint in college. So for now, she’s planning to live at home to save money while she gets through college.

I’m guessing Zoe will probably do the same, at least for a while, but who knows?  A lot can happen in four years.

Zoe and me ten years ago

What will I do with the extra time?

Well, I know that I will still want to devote some of my time to being there for my kids.  Even when kids move out, they do still often need some support and time, and I want to be available for them.

There’s some traveling that I would love to do, and with an empty nest, travel suddenly becomes a lot more feasible.

I’m also considering going back to school to become a nurse.  I will be 45 when Zoe graduates from high school, so there will theoretically still be plenty of time for a new career if I choose that path. 

And I do already have a full year of college credits, some of which will apply to a nursing degree.

I need to go talk to a guidance counselor about my options, but I could certainly start taking some classes during the last years of Sonia and Zoe’s high school since they’d mostly be taking community college classes at that point anyway.

We could go to college together. 😉

Why nursing?

Well, I like helping people, I think I would be good at it, I’m interested in the medical field, and nursing is definitely a career that can be worked part-time (which would still leave me with some free time for other things.) 

We’ll see; nothing has been decided for sure, and I have no idea what life changes could come my way in the next four years.

But I am not remotely worried about being bored once my kids are grown. 

Even if I don’t go get a job, I can still write, read, serve in the church and community, and help my friends and extended family. 

There will be plenty of purposeful things that can fill my time; life is full of possibilities!

_________________

I don’t have any plans to quit sharing words and pictures here, so you guys can come along for the ride and see what life holds for me in the next phase. 😉