Life's turning points....

[miss_thenorth]

I find this quite interesting--you are 42 and getting ready to deal with empty nest symdrome. I am 41, and won't have to deal with that for a while (kids ages 10 and 12), and Pat is about "our age" and her kids are toddler and preschool.

what different roads we have travelled. I think your idea of fostering is great! I have always wanted to do that, but hubby won't go for it. since you have no hubby for an obstacle--I think you should definitely go for it!! There are lots of options open for you, and I think you should explore them all.

so maybe this is a time to start getting excited about things.

 

[FarmerChick]

being almost 48 and with my one and only 3 1/2 year old....well I have a longggg time to go so I can't imagine her leaving.

 

[Beekissed]

being almost 48 and with my one and only 3 1/2 year old....well I have a longggg time to go so I can't imagine her leaving.

WOW!!! I can't even imagine starting out at that age....I'm about fried the way it is! Just think what the teen years will be like for you...

Just kiddin'!

It is funny how different we all are and still have some of the same interests. All my friends have young children like you all and we have so little in common. When I was raising little ones, they were discussing their boyfriends, college, sports cars and jewelry....no mystery there why I couldn't relate! Now, when I am changing careers again, losing children to the big bad world and thinking about what to do with my life...they are discussing schools, husbands and mortgages!

I never can seem to get in sync with the rest of the world! Not that I ever really wanted to...but it would sure be nice to know that someone, somewhere, took the same road!

 

[MorelCabin]

I'm not quite 39 and have only one left at home...he's 14. I am going to be a grandma in April...and my daughter is back living with us for a while until the baby is born I guess but she's not liking it much....you do all you can and they appreciate nothing:>) Heck she sleeps until noon and lies on the sofa the rest of the day...she does dishes after dinner (because she has to) and then she goes out with her friends all evening. Meanwhile her dad and brother and I have been working like crazy to build her a guesthouse so she doesn't have to "deal with us" hmmmm why is this a little backwards?
Life is not very fun around here right now...but I am doing it for my grandbaby...

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Er, well, I am 29, and my oldest is 9, and before you all tell me how I am still wet behind the ears..lol..may I say I will be so happy to turn 30 in December!

I hope you don't let the empty nest feelings get you down to much, Beekissed. My mom was your age when I moved out of the home. A year later I was getting married and she was 6 months pregnant with my baby sister

I have a 13 year old brother and 9 year old sister at home. She will be 10 in another month. The strangest part is a month after my wedding I found out I was pregnant. :| So my sister is 5 months older than my daughter

Ya'll should see the looks we get when out in public together and 7 kids in tow!!

 

[enjoy the ride]

I suggest adopting a daughter- a whole 'nother set of learning skills you can acquire.

My mom always used to say (the mother of three girls-lol)- Your son is your son til he takes him a wife, your daughter's your daughter all of her life.

You'd make a great mom for a girl- teach her to be independant and self-reliant by example.

 

[Beekissed]

I guess but she's not liking it much....you do all you can and they appreciate nothing..

THAT is so weird! I am going through something similar right now! I won't bore you with the details but I have a 22 yr. old that had to have a soft place to land, is staying at home until he can (no, until I can) raise enough money to ship him out west, and is hating every minute of it. All I hear is how he feels being "trapped" here without a car or any money, how he has no social life because I won't provide said money or car and how noone appreciates what he does around here.....man, I tell you, its almost like having a wife! And not a very pleasant one, I assure you.

Of course, he has Asperger's and can't be reasoned with, but today was his last chance to SHUT HIS MOUTH !!! The next time I hear any negative comments about the quality of his charity, he gets his walking papers. The open road is always an option that a young man can explore and I urged him to explore it and see if he can find better hospitality out there.

Heck, if I had wanted to live with a complaining, whining, ungrateful man I would have stayed married! un

THAT one, folks, will not be such a hard one to lose, if you know what I mean. I love him dearly, but, since he has been an adult, our love is best conducted at long distance!

 

[MorelCabin]

Oh I hear and understand you all too well Beekissed!

What gets me is that she expects US to take care of her...and the baby now too I guess. She left here today hopping mad because I wouldn't drive her a mile down the road to her friends...uh...why do they expect US to pay thier way to where they want to go all the time?

 

[reinbeau]

I'm 52 and I've got a funny story to relate.

I met my much newer and improved Husband 2.0 when I was 46. It soon became obvious I was going to marry him. His parents live in Michigan, it was almost a year before I met them. When we left after the meeting, his mother looked at me and said "Well, maybe I'll see you again", meaning she'd met quite a few potential DIL's.....he was 43 at the time and a bachelor. She was surprised she did see me again, and I married her son!

Around the time we got married she told me that she'd always hoped hubby would have children (hint, hint). I looked at her and said "I'm 48 years old - I'm looking forward to having my own grandchildren!" She was serious, and so was I. Hubby had already been snipped, we had discussed it, and if he'd wanted to, I was willing to have a child for him, he has none. But he (thankfully!!) said no, it was ok, we could get cats. Or a dog :bouquet

Fast forward to just a couple of months ago. Hubby was on the phone with his parents. After he hung up he told me that his mother had told him in all seriousness that he could still get the vasectomy reversed so we could have a grandchild for her. I"M 52!!!!!

I don't think so. But obviously hope springs eternal.

He told her sorry, but it was not going to happen. I think she's getting dotty in her old age! (oh yea, and her name is Dorothy )

I have two grown sons, the 24 year olf still lives here, 28 year old son lives in Boston.

 

[Beekissed]

I know I sound like a heartless old bagatha, but my happy home is my prized possession! I don't have anything of a material nature that I prize as much as my kids and my happy, no fussing or fighting, home. When one of the kids is messing with that picture...well, I'm at my wits end to see how to get around that without using a little tough love.

I don't like fighting...have moved 5 hours away from my family, divorced, changed numerous jobs and dropped a goodly number of male suitors for the sake of peace! After all those moves, I feel its my right to have some peace and quiet in my own home! I think I've earned it....

Glad someone out there knows what I'm going through. These mixed feelings of losing children, loving one but WANTING him to leave, and the confusion about where in the world this demon child came from?....well, it gets a person down a notch or two!