My Nest is Empty — Can I Spread My Wings Now?

In a few days, my youngest child is going off to college in another state.

While I am sad to see her go, I’m (mostly) viewing her transition as a springboard for our new overseas adventure. Once she’s settled into her dorm, all of our kids will be an airplane ride away from us.

Theoretically it won’t matter to them whether the plane takes off from Orlando or from Panama City, Panama, Quito, Ecuador or Cancun, Mexico.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple — when is it ever?

We do have one big hurdle to jump before we go anywhere. You see, we’re driving her up to her college, and stopping on the way to spend a couple of days with my husband’s parents. They’re the family members who seem to be having the hardest time with our plans to leave the country.

Either our plans will be the 800 pound gorilla in the room, or we’ll (hopefully) be able to talk honestly with them and leave them feeling more comfortable with what we’re doing.

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I’m certainly hoping for the latter.

Frankly, their attitude has surprised me so far. Perhaps it’s because I’m hearing what they say through a filter, since it’s my husband who’s been speaking with them about it. I definitely want to hear from them directly.

There are several reasons I’ve been surprised at their attitude:

• My in-laws are seasoned travelers. In just the past couple of years they’ve been to several European countries, Mexico, Panama and Canada. Years ago, my father-in-law worked for a number of months in Saudi Arabia.
• They’ve also lived all over the US: upstate New York, California, Georgia, North Carolina and Washington, DC.
• My mother-in-law uses Skype more than I do, so they know how easy it is to communicate via internet.
• We already live a good 8 hour drive away from them, and flying time isn’t much less when you add the time to and from the airport.

So I’m hoping we can defuse whatever fears they may have. Wish me luck!

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