My youngest children just turned 17, took the SAT and are finishing their college essays. One with great gusto, one reluctantly. My daughter, ever like her mother, cannot wait to be sprung from the family home to start her independent life. Her twin brother, on the other hand, doesn’t want to drive, doesn’t want to go to college, doesn’t want this chapter of his life to come to an end. I’m not excited about the prospect of children who don’t launch.
We don’t know how college will be paid for. We don’t know whether or not test scores or GPAs will be sufficient for the schools we’re looking at. What I know is that the kids need to be on their own. They need to be responsible for their own laundry, their own meals, their own space and themselves. I, too, need to launch. After catering to everyone else’s needs and requirements, I’m looking forward to discovering myself again.
So far, senior year seems daunting – I have yet to complete both children’s FAFSA applications. I have not written their brag sheets – which, by the way, seems really weird. Why wouldn’t a parent wax poetic about their progeny? I don’t know whether or not they have completed their Common Application and chosen their schools. In a month, they will have their driver’s licenses – or at least one of them will – and if my daughter hasn’t been home much already this year, I doubt I will see much of her after that.
My son has finally, in his fourth year of high school, joined a school team – it’s eSports – but an extracurricular activity nevertheless. He is expressing trepidation at the thought of being away from home at a four-year school. Unlike the last time, I have made it very clear – he is applying and will go away to school wherever he is accepted. His GPA is decent, even if the SAT score is not. (Full disclosure, my SAT score was well below 1000 combined and I still managed to not only get into a great school, but thrive there and graduate on time with a 3.6 GPA.) So SAT scores aren’t everything.
Another child’s mother is taking my daughter on college tours next month when the kids are off for the teacher’s convention. I am grateful for this parent-on-the-side but a part of me is jealous and sad, too. In a blink, they will be off on their own, and I will have to find new ways to spend my time.
So we have our work cut out for us. Empty nest will be happening, and it will be here before we know it.
