Tag Archives: The Piglet
So I Broke Down and Tried Botox (please don’t judge me!)
I’m a squinter. Always have been. My Grandma used to caution me, “Quit doing that – your face will freeze that way!” In my twenties, David would affectionately tease me about my “worry line.” He would always know when something was amiss, all he had to do was look between my eyes.Fast forward thirty (or so) years and, still, I squint on. The squinting’s worst when I’m writing – I don’t even realized I’m doing it.
And Grandma was right, my face… CONTINUE READING >>
Smooth Sailing? Not Likely!
I’d been following the controversial Abby Sunderland story with interest. Remember Abby? She was the sixteen-year-old sailor who, while attempting to sail her vessel around the world solo, found herself stranded in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Her parents took quite a bit of flack over the situation. I’d looked at this story from many different angles – and, as usual, my feelings were mixed.The helicopter Mommy in me shouted, “What the &#*% were her parents thinking?!” But after calm reflection I saw things a bit differently. I too have a child with “dangerous dreams.” My son, The Boy, has been flying airplanes since he was thirteen.
Sure, I’ve heard all the arguments… CONTINUE READING >>
Post-Parting Depression: Saying Good-bye to My Adult Kids
I’ve got an issue and I need help! I’m hoping I’ll get a lot of suggestions on this post from our amazingly insightful readers.This past holiday season, we had a lot to celebrate. In addition to our typical yuletide festivities, we were blessed to celebrate my in-law’s 60th wedding anniversary two days after Christmas and our own 30th a week after the new year started.
As wonderful as it was to have such momentous events smack-in-the-middle of the holidays, it led to more good-byes to our adult kids than I’m normally used to.
Having The Spawn come and go in such short and hectic celebratory spurts gave me some interesting insight into how I deal with my empty nest good-byes.
Not well, it seems… CONTINUE READING >>
The Long and the Shorts of It All
When women get to be “of a certain age” questions of appropriateness inevitably rear their ugly heads. I think I have squarely hit that certain age. With a vengeance.My questions of appropriateness have actually turned into a LIST of questions of appropriateness:
Should I stop wearing shorts?
What about sleeveless blouses?
Is my hair too long?
When should I stop dying it?
Should I do something about my wrinkles? The shorts quandary is a tough one for me. It’s on the top… CONTINUE READING >>
The Best? (Worst?) Funniest. Family Portrait. Ever.
Every family has ‘em. Piles of throw-away snapshots that you can’t bear to actually throw away. Before digital cameras our generation put every picture, no matter how bad, into a photo album. After all, they were precious – and we shelled out big bucks to have them developed.Then there are the CLASSICS. The ones you should have thrown away, but instead you frame them. This one is ours.
Think about it, we thought we were sitting for a lovely family portrait. Clearly, all heck is breaking loose and none of us could… CONTINUE READING >>
No, We Won’t Buy You a…
Our main goal as parents was to end up with happy, healthy, self-sufficient adults.We can’t tell anyone how to do this — everyone’s different and Lord knows we made our share of mistakes along the way — but we can offer an insight that we’ve gained through our own offspring’s transitions from childhood to adulthood.
Don’t give kids everything they want, just everything they need.
A whole lot of what they want is stupid crap and… CONTINUE READING >>
You Brought Your MOM to Your Job Interview?
Okay, it’s rave time. Just a warning.I sympathize with helicopter parents, I really do. I was one. I reluctantly stopped hovering once my kids left the nest. I knew that the sovereignty of the Spawns was more important than my own desire to continue colonial rule. Trust me, we’ve ALL benefited from my abdication.
Did I hound my offspring to do their homework when they were kids? You Betcha. Did I have meetings with their high school guidance counselors to voice concerns without the Spawn present? Guilty… CONTINUE READING >>
Things We Wish We’d Known BEFORE We Sent Our Kids to College
With autumn upon us, many new empty nesters have sent a fledgling off to college for the first time. Here are some DOs and DON’Ts on how to get through that first semester without losing your mind. 1. Don’t start off on a bad note. It’s hard to let our kids go. The day our babies head out on their own is a tough one for any parent. Because of her self-awareness about her emotional outbursts, Veronica
… CONTINUE READING >>
Bounce That Boomerang
The subject of Boomerang “Kids” has been in the news a lot lately, and the story we’re being sold is that poor, brave youngsters with new diplomas in hand have no choice but to move back into their old bedrooms at Mom and Dad’s house.
All sorts of numbers have been bandied about, some say a quarter of recent grads are unemployed or underemployed, others say half, and one completely unscientific study proclaiming the preposterous idea that 85 percent… CONTINUE READING >>
Creating the ULTIMATE College Care Package – A GN Guide
Let’s brainstorm and come up with ideas for college care package for our newly “empty” nested friends!
Our youngest, The Boy, was entering his second year in college. He was third kid that I had gone through the away-at-school process with, so I was starting to run low on the groovy care package ideas.
I really needed some help. I decided that I should hand it over to the experts. Our scholarly readers… CONTINUE READING >>
War & Peace, Volume II
A reader wrote:“The best part is when they finally get it, and tell you sorry for being such pain in the ass during those (teenage) years. My son told me he now understands everything I was trying to convey to his logic blocked brain back then…”
Oh man, I can relate.
I was pretty certain that at least one of my envelope-pushing teens would flee the nest — i-Pod at full… CONTINUE READING >>
The Old College Pry
How do we know when we’ve become too involved in our offspring’s college education?
Is it okay to call a professor about a dispute over a test score? Should we proofread their papers? Should we have access to their grades if we are paying tuition? Should we storm into the Dean’s office?
I interviewed some college professors and their stories will amaze you… CONTINUE READING >>
THE Talk
“I’m eighteen now, I can do what I want.”The dreaded time when the spawn are technically adults but still in high school. At that age, it would seem that “adult” means the freedom to head out and start being stupid at top speed.
The standard “Not in my house” or “As long as you live under my roof, you’ll abide by my rules” replies didn’t seem to sink in with our young ‘uns. In fact, I could almost see the heels digging in to the floor.
One day while driving our oldest, The Piglet, to school, I got fed up and burst out with what became known in our family as “THE Talk.” No, not THAT “the talk”, this one:… CONTINUE READING >>
Fear Conquering & Writing A Will
In the union of David and I, I am the less fearless. David has always been the adventurer – I am the homebody, the helicopter mom, the worrier. Selling the nest and heading out into the big, wide world, for me, was stepping outside the box. WAY out of the box.My biggest concern was to have our affairs in order, in the event of my certain demise. It’s essential for me to be sure that the kids are not burdened when I go down in flames in a hang gliding / bungee jumping / snowboarding / street food eating episode… CONTINUE READING >>
Stick a Fork in Us, We’re Done!
Our youngest, The Boy, graduated from college on Saturday. He’s somehow managed to graduate with honors, all while holding down two jobs. We can’t imagine having that much energy. As parents, we couldn’t be prouder.In addition to the pride we feel for our son’s accomplishments, we have found other reasons to celebrate. This is the last year we’ll ever make a tuition payment, have an offspring on our medical insurance, or… CONTINUE READING >>
Helicopter Mom – You Are Grounded!
“A mother is only as happy as her saddest child,” a close friend’s grandmother used to say. When I first heard her say this, all three of my children were young and safely in the nest so I could totally relate. Somehow I thought once they were grown up this would change. It didn’t.Trouble finds its way into everyone‘s lives – and as much as we hate it – trouble finds our adult children. Whether it rears its ugly head in a… CONTINUE READING >>
Who’s Kidding Who?
The last task of raising a child is letting them go. Allowing them to flap their cute little wings and fly… giving them a gentle nudge out of the nest to get them airborne. Ah yes, little birdies, spread your wings and fly. OK, sometimes it’s more like a hard shove off a cliff… but the harder transition from the parent-child relationship to an adult-to-adult one must be made.This process doesn’t happen overnight. The ritual sounds easy in theory, but it can be a bit sticky in practice. It’s difficult not to be mommy or daddy and even harder for the chicks not to revert… CONTINUE READING >>
Grandchildish Behavior
I’ve had two unexpected conversations recently that have given me pause for reflection. The first was with my father-in-law while dining over Mexican food in Kansas. While catching him up with our kids’ lives, he asked me if they were dating anyone of note. I told him that at the moment there were no significant others. Then, the bolt out of the blue,
“Oh, you must be sad that you won’t be having grandchildren anytime soon.”
The next exchange was with my daughters, The Piglet and Decibel.
“All of our friends’ mothers are on crazy grandma patrol. How come you aren’t nagging us about having babies?”
It started out as gentle teasing, but… CONTINUE READING >>
A Renewed Faith in Humanity From a Simple Gesture
Have you ever found the PERFECT Birthday Card? The absolute ONLY one that will make the receiver’s day?We had been carting this card around with us for quite some time – months. That’s what we do, when we find the ideal card for one of our family or friends we buy it, no matter how long it may be until the occasion that it celebrates. This one was perfect for our oldest, The notoriously carrot-hating Piglet.
Flash forward to a sunny, wildly windy day in Lafayette, Louisiana, a parade of dogs and a birthday card for our eldest to be mailed. What a pretty picture. And it was, until I noticed that the card was no longer in my coat pocket… CONTINUE READING >>
Fear Conquering & the Flying Trapeze
It was my first Fear Conquering – as kids today say – “epic fail.” Not pretty at all.Maybe I was too jet lagged. Maybe it was too early in the morning. Maybe it was the ten extra pounds of delicious-food Europe weight. Maybe 50-ish is a bit too old to take up a new trick this physical – the reflexes ain’t what they used to be! Maybe I should shut up and stop… CONTINUE READING and watch the video >>
Help! There’s No One to Eat the Leftovers!
Pretty much everything about life changes when that last kid walks out the door. Veronica and I think we should make the most of these adjustments, that’s why we started GypsyNester.com, to celebrate life after kids. Most of the changes were easily anticipated but as always, some things are unforeseen.Over the past few years, we have had to relearn how to shop and cook for just the two of us. That fell into the unexpected for me. I don’t know why, but it was not something that I thought of before the clearing out of the nest… CONTINUE READING >>
16 Boxes
Almost everyday we hear somebody say “I live vicariously through you” or “ I wish we could do what you’re doing.” As inviting as it may seem, it’s probably not the lifestyle for everybody. There is actually quite a commitment to chucking it all and becoming a gypsy. It takes a dash of nerve and a pinch of intestinal fortitude to get rid of everything you own except a handful of personal items that can be fit into a few boxes.16 boxes to be exact. Close to 30 years of marriage and 3 kids later, we’re whittled down to 16 boxes, most them in storage. Many of these boxes are tagged to go directly to the kids… CONTINUE READING >>
2012. A Year for Smiles
My New Year resolution is to make everyone I come in contact with smile. You are forewarned. I WILL crack you.Sharing smiles with strangers has long been a personal philosophy of mine, at times to the occasional chagrin of David and the embarrassment of my former teenaged kids, but this year I want to… CONTINUE READING >>
No Home for the Holidays
Selling the nest and becoming GypsyNesters has given our adult chicks the joy of being the hosts in their homes for the holidays.Christmas is the one time we allow ourselves to hands-down spoil our kids – and, boy, do we ever! As thrifty as we are during the non-Jesus-being-born part of the year, we let loose the coffers when we visit The Spawn during that “most wonderful time of the year.”
Oh, the anticipation! The joy!… CONTINUE READING >>
Adventures in Nest Swapping
One of the many advantages to having an “empty” nest is the freedom to swap your nest with other adventurous types. We decided that before we sold our house, we would try using it as bait for a cheap month in New York City.
Being in the habit of Googling at the drop of a hat, we took the online approach to finding suitable exchanges. We looked at several different sites, and chose a well known one for its ease of use and abundant choices from all over the globe. For a small annual fee, one can peruse homes, set up destinations to visit and… CONTINUE READING >>
9 Things We Told Our Girls in the Event of the Manhattan Hurricane
We have two daughters, The Piglet and Decibel, planning to ride out Hurricane Irene on Manhattan. Having lived in the Caribbean, here is the advice we gave them. Please share this with loved ones as being over prepared can make you feel stupid, it can also save your life.1. Fill up your bathtub with water. Water supplies get contaminated with flooding. You will want to bathe and cook. If you don’t have a bathtub, buckets, pots & pans work as well.
2. Buy food. I called it “The Week of Living Amishly.” Canned food, canned food, canned food.
3. It’s gross, but your toilet will only… CONTINUE READING >>
