New Chapter
The summer of 2025 had us enter into a new chapter in our lives. We are now empty-nesters. We knew this day was coming. We helped our youngest daughter paint walls and cabinets in her new house. We helped with installing new flooring in what would be her master bedroom. She wanted the house to have her special touch, and we helped her achieve that goal. Months worth of weekends poured into her new home has it looking just right now, and last week she officially moved in. As we moved every piece of furniture out of her room in our house, we pushed forward and through the thoughts of what we would feel later when we drove away, leaving her at her new address and new home.
After everything was in its place, we hugged her and made sure she locked the doors. We made our way to our vehicles, and my husband looked into my eyes with such sadness in his own. As he went to speak, I told him not to, as I could not bear it at that time. I told him to get in his vehicle and meet me at the house. I knew the flood gates would open in my eyes if he expressed what I was feeling also in my heart.
The first four days were hard, as I tried not to mope around our house. With promises of her coming back to stay with us at some point, we worked hard to get her room in order in our house. We moved bedroom furniture back into her now empty room and tried our best to make it look as close as we could to when she lived with us — minus the clothes on the floor and endless water bottles. We snapped pictures of the new exercise room upstairs and sent her a picture of her room closely resembling what it was a week earlier when she lived at “home” … our home. She talked of how nice it was, but in our hearts, we knew she would not be returning home. She has her newfound freedom, and we remember those days. There’s nothing like walking around in your own home in a t-shirt without pants, standing in the kitchen in the refrigerator light at 3 a.m. because you want a snack. We know.
While we are not alone – with many having walked this path before us – it’s new and different. It’s frightening and more than a little sad. What will the future hold for us now? We devoted our entire adult lives either praying for and preparing to have a baby, raising our children, caring for them when they were sick, carting them to all the school and extracurricular activities, working on what seemed like endless projects and papers for school. We cheered them on in all they strived to do, whether it was college classes, working full time, or exploring the arts through painting, drawing, and singing. We were their biggest fans and loudest cheerleaders — and proud of it!
We were told on occasions that we “spoiled” our daughters by all we did for them and the vacations we took them on. There’s no such thing, though. We wanted them both to have the best childhood we could offer them full of so much love and happiness. While we were not able to protect them from this cruel, harsh world, we did all within our power to wrap them in the safety of our love and care.
Oh, how we treasure every moment of both of our daughters’ childhoods. Now we watch them both grow and flourish as adults. We could not be prouder of them! They are two of the most beautiful young ladies, inside and out, and we truly thank God for them both! We got to live our dreams! We became parents!
And now … we watch them live their dreams.
They have chosen a different path from each other, and we celebrate all that makes them unique. One is a stay-at-home mommy of a beautiful, prayed for and prayed over little boy! Oh, how he lights up our entire world!! The other is a full time working, independent women handling things on her own. While she hasn’t found her partner in life yet, we know God will bless her when the time is right, just as he did with our oldest daughter when she found love in her now ordained minister of a husband!
Ah, yes, life is good, even as we enter this new chapter in our lives as empty nesters. No matter how we’re feeling, we will navigate this road together – my husband and I. It’s time for us to find our way back to who we were before we devoted our entire beings to Mommy and Daddy. We treasure our roles, and now we are thriving as GRANDPARENTS!
We wonder if this is how our parents felt when we left the nest. It wasn’t talked about back then. It’s just something that we were supposed to grow up and do. We were raised to be independent and handle things on our own. We did, without a single thought of how our parents may have felt deep down inside with our empty bedrooms and quiet house. Until now.
As I sit in the quiet now, I remember the once extremely loud and chaotic household with toys here and there. I remember the mountains of what seemed like never-ending laundry. I appreciate where I am in my life now, but ohhhhh, the silence is almost deafening at times. So, I sit and think of my most treasured memories. Days snuggled in the bed with both of my little children by my side as we watched movies together bring me joy even now. Sitting in my burgundy recliner with my youngest daughter on the arm of my chair leaning into me as we read a book together also tops the chart of those memories. Playing “silly time” as my oldest daughter dressed in plastic high heeled shoes and a ballerina tutu twirling around and running down the hallway to change into another outfit for our “fashion show” … ah, yes. Sweet and precious memories keep me company now in this chapter of my life.
Jesus Daily
Everyone needs Jesus daily! As we enter the new year of 2025, it is the perfect time to invest in reading through the bible in a year. The Christian Standard Bible offers the Jesus Daily Bible, and with this not being date-specific, it will still allow you to go through the bible in 52 weeks.
This bible will show you the role of Jesus throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelations. Every bit of God’s word will point to Jesus and keep Christ in the center.
My daughter recently mentioned the desire to read the bible from cover to cover. This bible is perfect, and I introduced her to it this morning.
Be sure to order yours here today and kick off the new year with the Jesus Daily Bible!
Many thanks to Lifeway Christian Resources for providing a sample of the product for this review. Opinions are 100% my own.
1968
While I shared this snippet of my feelings on my personal Facebook page earlier this morning, I will expound upon it here on the blog:
On this day in 1968, my beautiful sister was born. There are not enough words to express how much I love her and miss her. Oh how I wish love could have saved her.  Today there is such awareness for the prevention and support with postpartum depression, but that was not the case in 2001 when we lost her.  She is the reason that I will forever speak up and speak out about supporting others and not adding to what others may be going through because you have no idea what they might be struggling with alone in silence. Sadly, she is not the only one that lost this fight as there are many, many others. However, I will not focus on how she died, but I will celebrate her precious life and the love that she gave to those around her. She did not have a large circle of friends, but she had a close family that loves her so very much and would have done anything in this world to save her had we only known. They hide it well, though, to protect the family. We should be celebrating her 56 years with our parents, two nieces (Brittney & Tiffany-Haven), a great nephew (Kingston), a daughter (Melanie) and three grandchildren (Oliver, Gianna, and Danny). My heart breaks for what should have been and for where we are right now. Alas, our hearts still remember her and celebrate her, just in a different way now. Happy Birthday in Heaven, Pamela. I love you far more than you ever knew when you were on this earth. I hope you feel it even still all the way up there in Heaven.
In the year 1968, two beautiful souls welcomed their first child, a daughter! She was their pride and joy as their stories and the smiles on their faces revealed as they spoke about her. Two and a half years later, another daughter (me) entered the picture. We were complete opposites from the very beginning, from our physical features (her with auburn hair and green eyes, and me with blonde hair and blue eyes), to our personalities (her being an introvert and me being a little bit more outgoing but still on the shy side).
My first memories aren’t of us being close as we grew up, as we had a troubled childhood with our mom being sick and us having to grow up way too fast, taking on adult chores around the house at such young ages. Yet, we grew closer as adults, and I treasured our friendship in our sisterhood.
We had lunch almost daily as we both worked in office settings near each other which afforded us this opportunity. “Little or big?” was her way of asking if we wanted to grab fast food or have a nice sit-down meal together.
She often teased me for my “hooker red lipstick,” as I wore makeup while she chose to go all natural. She would also tease me for pointing when I polished my nails or wore “fake nails.” We don’t realize we’re doing it at times, but it draws attention to that which we are proud of … (i.e. our long beautifully polished nails).
Glamour Shots were so hot “back in the day” (being most popular in the 1980s and 1990s). She wanted to go but didn’t want to go alone, so we went together for the experience. When we walked in, they assigned a team of stylists to assist us. They started the transformation as soon as we sat in the chair. One lady began immediately on curling and styling our hair, while the other lady started slathering on the makeup. I’m sure it was almost torture for my sister’s always bare face to have makeup almost caked on for this photography session. With the harsh bright lighting, they had to put a lot of makeup on so we would have color in the pictures. We had so much confidence after these sessions where they dressed us up in leather and feather boas and made us feel beautiful. Ah, but when we walked outside, we were mortified at how orange we looked!
Another favorite memory of mine was when we went to Folly Beach together. For someone who could not swim, my sister was fearless as she walked out into the water to jump waves. She turned her back to the waves as they slapped against her, and the biggest smile would form on her face each time the wave pushed her forward. She would motion for me to join her, and together we laughed like fools as we enjoyed the sun on our faces and the waves slamming into us. Ah, the good ole days! We would leave the beach fully refreshed looking like lobsters.
I have so many fond memories of time spent with her as adults, even if I can hardly recall good childhood memories together.
One of my most cherished yet bittersweet memories is of when she became a mother. I’ll forever remember seeing her in the hospital bed smiling sweetly as she held her newly born daughter in her arms. Her pride and joy! Having always been a “picture person,” I got busy snapping pictures for keepsakes to capture that happy moment in time so we would have it to treasure always. Little did I know that two weeks later, those pictures would bring such heartache and pain as we got the 35 mm film developed. My sister was suffering from postpartum depression, and even though we, as a family, were with her as often as we could be or she would allow, none of us knew the depths of her despair. There was speculation that her husband cheated on her. When she found out shortly after delivering their daughter, the heartbreak she felt was so extreme that it lead to her taking her own life.
I was only able to witness my sister snuggling with her daughter for two weeks, but I know she loved her daughter so much. I remember conversations when my sister was pregnant, and how she was beaming with pride at her baby shower.
Fast forward to the year 2024, and here I sit writing about our memories and wishing she was here. Twenty-three years have passed, but I remember … I will always remember.
