excerpt from article in the magazine

I've been trying to write this piece on "the empty nest syndrome" for two weeks now. The problem is, I can't find a quiet place to write it because all five of my kids are at home. Sometimes I think that when they left the nest, they were all attached by bungee cords. Furthermore, when they come home now, they tend to bring others with them: Roommates, foreign visitors, boyfriends and girlfriends . . . it's been Grand Central Station around here all summer.

The fact is, however, that I'm taking Laura back to art school in Michigan tomorrow. The following week Dan and Ginny go back to South Korea, where they work at an International School. Sam is taking a second job and Steve is starting school at a technical college. In a couple of weeks, I will once again be sitting all alone most of the time, wondering who the heck I am, now that my kids no longer need me every second of the day. After homeschooling for twenty-five years, it has certainly been difficult to readjust. Every time they want to go out with their friends, I still feel like I should be with them, turning it into an educational field trip. I'm rarely invited nowadays, and I know that is the way it ought to be. I set a goal long ago that I wanted them to become independent. They have turned into fiercely individualistic people, very competent and social and capable of doing things without my assistance or interference. Of course, I know that in another ten years or so, when they begin to marry and have children of their own, I will once again become an indispensable part of their families. For right now though, in the years between playing chauffeur and cookie-baking grandma, I'm definitely feeling a bit like a fifth-wheel.