Empty Nest Archives - Ann Hedreen, Writer Teacher Filmmaker

Still Restless

therestlessnest2019-11-13T17:30:56-08:00Categories: creative aging, faith and doubt, hiking, memoir, midlife, nature, writing|Tags: Empty Nest, Restless Nest|

It’s 3 a.m. and I hear my neighbor’s car start and I wonder where he’s going at this hour and then I wonder why on earth I’m awake enough to wonder. And then I start wondering other things like will my book get published and will Rustin and I figure out how to live without our children in the house and will I ever get back to sleep? Welcome to the Restless Nest. It isn’t empty, that’s for sure. Two decades of life lived takes up a lot of room. As does this restlessness. When I wrote those words in 2011 (before this blog was even on WordPress), the person I was welcoming to the Restless Nest was me. “Get comfortable,” I was telling myself, between the lines. “You’re here now. The Nest looks different. You look different. Life is going to be different. And all of that is going to be O.K.” The more I rolled those words over my tongue—Restless Nest—the more I liked them. What might happen, I wondered, if I embraced restlessness? Because that’s me, I thought. That’s what I am: restless. And then I saw how well it went with the word “nest.” Restless Nest. Suddenly, I had a retort, a comeback, to the tiresome questions about how I was coping with our newly empty nest. “It’s not empty,” I would say. “It’s restless.” I liked saying it, because it instantly defused a whole Molotov-cocktail shaker full of flammable issues behind the words “empty nest.” There was the implied ageism: “wow, [...]

The Restless Report

therestlessnest2019-11-07T16:02:14-08:00Categories: brain, memoir, midlife, parenting, women's rights, writing|Tags: Empty Nest, Her Beautiful Brain, Liza Mundy, memoir writing, New York Times|

Four years ago, a word came to me: restless. That’s me, I thought. That’s what I am: restless. And then I saw how well it went with the word “nest.” Restless Nest. Suddenly, I had a retort, a comeback, to the tiresome questions about how I was coping with our newly empty nest. “It’s not empty,” I would say. “It’s restless.” I liked saying it, because it instantly defused a whole Molotov-cocktail shaker full of flammable issues behind the words “empty nest.” There was the implied sexism—“I’m sure your husband’s fine but you must be a mess!”—and ageism: “wow, life’s pretty bleak and empty at your age, isn’t it?” And then there were my own incendiary issues: I hated the thought of my college-age children judging me and thinking my life was now empty and dull. I resented the mixed messages from well-meaning friends, which I somehow heard as: if you’re a good and loving mother, of course you are going to feel bereft when your children leave. On the other hand, if you do feel bereft, that must mean you defined yourself through your children, and didn’t we all vow thirty years ago we wouldn’t do that? Four years later, thinking about what I was thinking then makes my head spin. Because here’s one thing I’ve learned: I am not the only restless one in this nest, and I’m not just talking about my husband. Although he’s a good place to start. “Read this,” he said on Sunday, pointing to a New York Times Opinion [...]

Hiatus

therestlessnest2013-05-29T11:22:33-07:00Categories: midlife, parenting, quiet|Tags: Empty Nest, KBCS|

We were going to camp, but the weather was terrible. Instead, we rented a tiny cottage on the Washington coast. It has a wood stove and a big window, so we can watch the storm pound the beach in comfort. There is room, in this cabin, for exactly two people: my husband and me. About fifteen years ago, we rented a pair of houses up the beach a ways. There were eight of us—my sister and her family and me and mine. Four adults, four kids. Beach fires, forts, expeditions, charades, a new puppy—it was a hectic, joyful blast of a trip. It was a different time of life. A wonderful time. I feel lucky to have had such a wonderful time. We still feel lucky. We have two young adult children who actually want to hang out with us reasonably often, and we treasure our time together. But we also have this: the flexibility to sneak off to the beach and rent a place the size of a dollhouse, where we can read, write, walk, eat and sleep when we want. The Washington coast is a good place to ponder the passage of time. Little changes here, and yet everything does. The wind and waves push the sand without ceasing: every day, the beach is brand new. Two years ago, when I began writing these commentaries for KBCS radio, I thought I would reflect frequently on the passage of time and this big life transition from a full nest to a “restless” one. More often, [...]

Breakfast

therestlessnest2012-10-19T08:40:51-07:00Categories: fitness, midlife|Tags: breakfast, Empty Nest, food, sack lunch|

Readers: October has been a busy month here in the Restless Nest. This week, I re-broadcast a radio piece on one of my favorite subjects: breakfast. “So, how’s the Empty Nest going for you?” the Other Mom asked me when we ran into each other in the park. Our children were the same ages: 18 and 21. The younger ones recently graduated from the same high school. “It’s a little strange. But I guess I don’t miss getting up every day at 6:30.” “Oh, that wasn’t an issue for me,” she responded. “My daughter was so self-sufficient.” The implication being, of course, that our son was not: that it was his sorry lack of self-sufficiency that got my husband and me out of bed every morning. But that wasn’t it at all, I wanted to explain, but didn’t. I wanted to be there every day, just to say “Good-bye! Have a great day!” as Nick ran out the door. I wanted to know he had breakfast in his stomach and a sack lunch in his backpack. I knew he didn’t “need” us to get up. He probably didn’t even “want” us to get up. But isn’t one of the enduring themes of the teenage years that secret feeling that no one really cares? And when you’re having one of those dark adolescent moments, might it not help to be able to say to yourself, At least my parents get up every morning and pop my toast in for me? At least they say good-bye when I [...]

Goodbye, Oh’leven

therestlessnest2011-12-28T09:22:20-08:00Categories: midlife, Uncategorized|Tags: 2011, Empty Nest, Occupy|

Hey 2011. Can I call you Oh’leven? You have been quite a year. The Year of the Protester, according to TIME Magazine. I know: I mentioned this last week. But I’m so not done dwelling on the significance of it. Oh’leven will forever be the year millions of people—in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, New York, Oakland, Seattle—decided to stand up, move, do something. Because sitting out the recession wasn’t working very well. Neither was waiting for aging dictators to die, or democracy to just happen. I regret I did not personally take part in the Occupy Movement, which was at its height during our family’s craziest time in 2011: the Big Move from the house we’d been in for 21 years to a smaller home two miles away. Instead of taking to the streets, we were taking endless loads of stuff to Goodwill. But our move felt, in its humble way, like part of this larger story. When our house sold, we traded in a big mortgage with a big bank for a small mortgage with a small bank. We traded in a big house that served us well while raising children for a townhome that will serve us perfectly in our Restless Nest years. We occasionally sold but mostly gave away all kinds of things we no longer needed—basketball hoop, couch, futon, rowing machine, clothes, sheets, towels—to people who need them more. We chose a neighborhood where we can walk and take light rail. When we tell people about making these choices, they get it, because [...]