Big Frank takes his daughter to away to college in three days. Gina will be going to Southern Oregon University, where she’ll be studying theater – at least that’s the plan right now. This is an exciting time for Gina; moving away from home; thinking about her life’s plans for a career; making new friends; and learning to live away from home and her dad. It will be an adjustment for her, and an adjustment for her dad.Big Frank may now be entering the empty nest syndrome, a psychological world that that is characterized by a certain sadness, wistful retrospection, some lonliness, and copious amounts of free time. This is the first time in 25 years with no children around for Big Frank, and that has got to entail some kind of adjustment. It’s interesting to note that most articles on this indicate that it is mothers/women that characteristically suffer from this – not men. There is a lot of information on the web on the syndrome, including blogs devoted exclusively to this. Big Frank was reading through this and discovered the odd fact that some ‘empty nest’ parents in Florida have been buying campuchin monkeys to care for when their children leave home! Well Big Frank has no plans to try to replace Gina with a monkey!
2 comments:
I am glad that you are not replacing Gina with a monkey. She would not appreciate that. I am well aware of the empty nest syndrome, but I can only tell you that if you are feeling empty, it does get better. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen quickly, but it will. After a couple years when she comes back to stay for a while, it will feel odd, and you will want your "empty nest" back again.
No monkey could ever replace Gina! Thanks for the advice, Kath, from one who has been in the empty nest and then had it fill up (partially) again.
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