You know that when there is a big life change coming, and you can see it coming, that you do what you can to try and prepare for it.

Well, some of us do. Some folks stick their heads in the sand so they can avoid the changes for as long as humanly possible.

I saw our empty nest coming when our youngest two entered high school. One had just graduated, one was a junior and the last two freshmen.

I saw that empty nest with great clarity. Or so I thought.

I decided that I needed to work on figuring out what I wanted to do with all of the spare time I was going to have when the kids were gone. I was a work at home mom and we had just closed our business. I was on-call 24/7 but I knew that was coming to an end.

I got my certification as a floral designer, worked in a couple of shops and then moved to working part-time in a craft store as their floral designer.

From there I found the world of crafting and craft design. I started working nearly full-time designing, teaching and then writing this blog in the evenings and on weekends. I joined the Craft and Hobby Association and through my blog learned all I could about social media.

I got a few gigs doing free-lance work that allowed me to quit my job in the craft store that had become a total drag.

I started my own business again – I’ve owned a few. Writing, craft design, jewelry design, social media marketing.

I’ve been busy. I enjoy what I do.

But no matter how hard I tried to prepare myself for this time…

It’s harder than I imagined.

Our youngest is going to work out of state for 2 months this summer. For the first time Warren and I will be without children.

The first time since we joined our two families back in 1999.

It’s been hard. Knowing that I won’t be on-call this summer. No one to take anywhere, no one but Warren and myself to cook for most days.

Warren’s business and freelance work are BUSY. And we are so thankful. He works very long hours.

That will leave me alone most of the summer.

I’m not sure what I want to do with myself and I’ve been feeling really sad about it the past couple of weeks.

Until I realized…

I can do what I want. I can chase dreams, go on artist dates, garden, sew, write and do household chores all without worrying that I will be interrupted by the needs of someone else at any moment.

It’s freeing.

It’s magical.

It’s scary.

It’s harder that I thought it would be.

But I’m jumping in. I’m going to try new things, meet new people, take some classes and do some experimenting.

I’m jumping in to a new phase in my life (ready or not) and I’m going to embrace it.

After all, the alternative is to stay in bed all summer and feel badly for myself. And that’s just not my style.