It is weird at our home this week. It is eerily quiet, and at times, boring! Just hubby and me, the dog and the youngest child, rattling around in our house. The oldest two have left the nest and are off on their life journeys and the other 4, our official teenagers, are on trips this week: 2 in Lincoln, Nebraska attending a Christ in Youth conference, fondly known as CIY, and the other 2 are in Montreal, Canada touring with a Grandma and a Great-Aunt. Our youngest admitted last night that the house is too quiet and that he misses his older siblings. He admitted this much faster than I thought he would, I was expecting for his admittance of this truth on Wednesday or Thursday. He, has in fact, been invited to attend a Vacation Bible School at Redeemer Lutheran Church this week, so from 9-12:30, I truly have an empty nest, hence the weirdness of it all! My mind spins with all of the chores I could rush through, tasks I’ve been wanting to tackle. Then I recall that I could now sit and read my library book uninterrupted, or watch one of the myriad classic movies that I have taken from Turner Classic Movies and put on our dvr machine. I could watch one or two without someone poking fun at a black and white film! I did the grocery shopping this am and was left gasping at how low the bill was for just 3 people! Our youngest also reminded me last night that if we only had him for our child, we wouldn’t have needed to buy such a big house! I remarked that he was quite right, and we momentarily thought of things we could budget for quite easily if he was our only child! 
Speaking of library books, I am currently reading The Richard Burton’s Diaries. When I saw it on the “New Books” shelf at Rolla Public Library, I snatched it up and checked it out. I love to read biographies and autobiographies and knew this would be an interesting read, to say the least. A professor in Wales, the country where Mr. Burton was from, and Burton’s oldest daughter, actress Kate Burton, decided to release the late actor’s diaries. Mr. Burton began his diaries at the age of 14, and they are full of typical teen boy activities: lots of rugby matches, cricket matches(Mr. Burton was a very good athlete in his youth), studying for exams, accounts of part-time jobs in order to earn spending money, hanging out with friends, WWII battles in the news, enduring blackouts, and going to the movies. Then there is a gap and the diaries begin again when he is married to Elizabeth Taylor. Three things I’ve taken away so far from this book: First, the wealthy go out to eat quite a lot as there are many passages about restaurants visited, dishes ordered and how delicious the meals were. Second, dropping gifts into others laps for birthdays and holidays are easily done. Third, that if one is fond of drinking liquor and decides to give it up because it is causing harm to one’s relationships and harm to one’s health, than by all means give it up! Mr. Burton, a renowned drinker, several times decided to give up the liquor and each time he marveled at how better he slept, felt, treated everyone around him, lost weight…sad to keep reading of his proclamations about his life being better without the booze only to know that he takes the habit back up again and again and again. I also chuckled when I read the late actor’s comments about his opinions on the “untalented” Beatles and most pop music groups!
In closing, even though our family will be small in attendance at the dinner table tonight, by late Friday night we’ll have the two teen sons home and by Sunday night, the twin teen daughters will be back under our roof. We’ll then be back to our “normal” reality with 7 around the table in the dining room for the evening meal, saying our the blessing for our meal together and asking God to provide His protection and wisdom to our oldest two, for the week they are encountering in their lives away from us and away from Rolla, Missouri.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
portraitsbyjenni 
9 Jul
Empty Nest Preview and Richard Burton
Posted July 9, 2013 by jennifromrollamo in Social Commentary. Leave a Comment
It is weird at our home this week. It is eerily quiet, and at times, boring! Just hubby and me, the dog and the youngest child, rattling around in our house. The oldest two have left the nest and are off on their life journeys and the other 4, our official teenagers, are on trips this week: 2 in Lincoln, Nebraska attending a Christ in Youth conference, fondly known as CIY, and the other 2 are in Montreal, Canada touring with a Grandma and a Great-Aunt. Our youngest admitted last night that the house is too quiet and that he misses his older siblings. He admitted this much faster than I thought he would, I was expecting for his admittance of this truth on Wednesday or Thursday. He, has in fact, been invited to attend a Vacation Bible School at Redeemer Lutheran Church this week, so from 9-12:30, I truly have an empty nest, hence the weirdness of it all! My mind spins with all of the chores I could rush through, tasks I’ve been wanting to tackle. Then I recall that I could now sit and read my library book uninterrupted, or watch one of the myriad classic movies that I have taken from Turner Classic Movies and put on our dvr machine. I could watch one or two without someone poking fun at a black and white film! I did the grocery shopping this am and was left gasping at how low the bill was for just 3 people! Our youngest also reminded me last night that if we only had him for our child, we wouldn’t have needed to buy such a big house! I remarked that he was quite right, and we momentarily thought of things we could budget for quite easily if he was our only child!
Speaking of library books, I am currently reading The Richard Burton’s Diaries. When I saw it on the “New Books” shelf at Rolla Public Library, I snatched it up and checked it out. I love to read biographies and autobiographies and knew this would be an interesting read, to say the least. A professor in Wales, the country where Mr. Burton was from, and Burton’s oldest daughter, actress Kate Burton, decided to release the late actor’s diaries. Mr. Burton began his diaries at the age of 14, and they are full of typical teen boy activities: lots of rugby matches, cricket matches(Mr. Burton was a very good athlete in his youth), studying for exams, accounts of part-time jobs in order to earn spending money, hanging out with friends, WWII battles in the news, enduring blackouts, and going to the movies. Then there is a gap and the diaries begin again when he is married to Elizabeth Taylor. Three things I’ve taken away so far from this book: First, the wealthy go out to eat quite a lot as there are many passages about restaurants visited, dishes ordered and how delicious the meals were. Second, dropping gifts into others laps for birthdays and holidays are easily done. Third, that if one is fond of drinking liquor and decides to give it up because it is causing harm to one’s relationships and harm to one’s health, than by all means give it up! Mr. Burton, a renowned drinker, several times decided to give up the liquor and each time he marveled at how better he slept, felt, treated everyone around him, lost weight…sad to keep reading of his proclamations about his life being better without the booze only to know that he takes the habit back up again and again and again. I also chuckled when I read the late actor’s comments about his opinions on the “untalented” Beatles and most pop music groups!
In closing, even though our family will be small in attendance at the dinner table tonight, by late Friday night we’ll have the two teen sons home and by Sunday night, the twin teen daughters will be back under our roof. We’ll then be back to our “normal” reality with 7 around the table in the dining room for the evening meal, saying our the blessing for our meal together and asking God to provide His protection and wisdom to our oldest two, for the week they are encountering in their lives away from us and away from Rolla, Missouri.
Share this:
Like this:
Related