Emptying the Nest

A week from tomorrow, we send our boy off to college.

Far off he goes, to Georgia Collge & State University in Milledgeville.

Well, far is relative, I guess.  It's about three hours away.  Close enough where he can come home once in a while, or we could go up there.  But it's not close enough where we could do it all the time.  There will be several weeks at a time where we don't see him.

That's not a bad thing.  He needs to build his own life.  He needs to join groups, establish new friends, explore what he wants to do with his life.  And I feel that he couldn't do that at a commuter college where he spends more weekends with us than he does at school.

He has friends here, but no girlfriend.  The hardest attachment to be away from will probably be with his MeeMaw.  He took her out to Dairy Queen once a week, and he saw her other times as well, especially at church.

Benjamin has been a cradle Episcopalian.  He was even at Cursillo (a religious retreat experienced by many from church) while in his mother's womb.  In addition to all the activities at Grace, he for several years attended family night events on Wednesdays at Blackshear Presbyterian.  Although many of his fellow classmates were not aware of it, as he did not parrot Christian Right fundamentalist beliefs, he was about the most churched kid at his school.  We hope he continues his faith life at Georgia College.  He will be in walking distance of an Episcopal Church, and there is an Episcopal Youth group, The Canterbury Club, on campus.


Alison and I will soon be faced with the dreaded Empty Nest Syndrome.  We will go on, but a good chunk of our hearts and souls will be in Milledgeville.  I've already tried out for community theatre again. Benjamin is helping set up a microphone and recording capability on my desktop so I can start my journey as a recording artist.  Alison has been involved in helping her mother through some health problems.  She also has a number of hobbies that will fire up - she likes to stay busy creating and planning things.  And there will be more things that Alison and I do together.  Probably one of the big things will be planning trips to Milledgeville!

Our boy is growing up.  Change isn't always easy, but with our love for each other, and with the love and faith from our God and church, we will see things through.  It's a new stage of the journey, both exciting and scary, but we have, with the help of his church and extended family, raised a fine young man.

We love our BenJerMan!