Having raised my kids to the brink of adulthood – our oldest ][ this close to venturing out completely on her own, and the other impatiently (that’s my impatience, not his) waiting for word on whether he made the cut for the inaugural class for a new technical training program at our neighborhood state college – I daydream about what a true empty nest looks like.
I grouse about that – the empty nest part – having tied my identity so closely to my children and motherhood – but there are so many possibilities.
When they were much younger, my Mister and I would tease our kids about visiting them in their homes once we retire. We’d eat all their food, spill red juice on their carpets, and make general nuisances of ourselves… you know, just like, well, they did.
My favorite fantasy, one that I have shared with them and my Mister, is selling all our earthly possessions and buying a luxury RV. Hitting the road, traveling to all those wondrous places I’ve dreamed of, and living the life of a nomad.
Recently the History Channel aired a documentary featuring the Ten Best National Parks. I was plotting my itinerary before the show ended. More than 50 Florida State Parks offer camping facilities. Of those, many have resident manager programs. In exchange for a few hours a week maintaining the campground, a manager is given free camping privileges. Maybe National Parks have a similar program.
How cool would it be to travel the country, staying in National Parks free-of-charge, embracing the very best of America? I would clean bath houses and pick up trash for that job.
I wonder if my father-in-law would let us borrow his camper?
Thin spiral notebook 
I spent a number of years without a home base and while I got to see a lot of the world I have to say that Dorothy had it right: there’s no place like home. 😉
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Even if I could have this nomad life, I’d still want so kind of home base. Hopefully with my kids.
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That would be the ultimate life, to me.
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How fun would it be to have the means to be that free to travel? I’d love it.
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It’s a nice fantasy. I’d love to do the same – minus the cleaning bathrooms part.
xoRobyn
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We have to make some sacrifices for our dreams… no? The bathroom part would not be my first choice of jobs.
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Okay, I’m calling this serendipity. On recently discovered your blog. Friday I blogged about an Airstream (http://blackandgraylifemusings.blogspot.com/2013/07/love-65-miles-per-hour.html?showComment=1373212864958). My kids are 30 and the 17 just bolted (she’ll be back). And my Mister read my Airstream blog and asked “Why not”? Oh, I’m looking at used tin cans and plotting how much we can pay off and save before we hit the asphalt.
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Ack, she’s 28. 🙂
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I have an online friend who did the ‘on the road’ thing with her family. They traveled around the U.S. for a year. It sounded so amazing.
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That’s not quite a luxury vehicle in the picture, is it? I had friends who did just what you are fantasizing about. Then one day, they parked the RV near a retreat center near their hometown. They were tired of life on the road, but they didn’t have a home to return to. Just a thought.
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When we tire of our nomad life, that’s when we park the ol’ RV in one of the kids’ driveway and move in with them.
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We were technically “empty nesters” – ie, both kids gone to college and then on to life – for four years. Now Ella Numera Dos is back home, starting grad school in DC in the fall. Time flies, but it also remains the same. Think I need to start blogging again. It really is another perspective, having one’s adult daughter as a “roomie” instead of a dependent minor. 🙂
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I hope you do start writing again, you were a Superior Scribbler after all. It is odd when your kids cross over into that ‘friend’ zone. It’s difficult sometimes for me to turn off my “mommy voice.”
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