My Biggest Problem with the Empty Nest

My biggest problem with the empty nest is that I got too used to it.
We moved Lizzy into her new dorm on Saturday and the house is now empty of children - again. It's been about a month since Christmas break started and all the festivities of the season and Robert's wedding commenced. I think our first semester of the empty nest wiped out my memory banks of having a houseful of people, coming and going and eating and sleeping at all different hours. I used to be able to function with the different schedules and agendas and needs, while still maintaining what I needed to do. Carving out time for myself in the midst of chaos was a skill I pretty much perfected. Going with the flow and adapting to those around me was really part of my make-up.
But this past month, it all got to me. The mess of lots of people and lots of activities weighed on me. The calendar lunged from one event to the next and the days, or hours, in between were lost in the process. And, yes, it was a busy time - but I think there's more to it.
The seasons have changed. I've always known I'm a very seasonal person and if you've read this blog for long, you know that. Certain smells, colors and music designate the natural seasons for me. Now I'm thinking my internal passage of time goes even further than that.
It's a new season of just me and Mike, of my writing having a future, of doing things I like (i.e. my book clubs) and basically narrowing my focus. Multi-tasking seems to have belonged to a different season.
I feel a deep gratitude for this new season and for the acknowledgment of it. However, there is also a sadness at the passing of that season of full home, full calendar, and broad, scattered focus. But having a beginning and an end IS what makes something a season.
Could that be what leads to so much sadness in our lives - holding on to seasons which have passed?

Tis the Season!

Seasons really get to me. They dictate the candles I burn, the colors of my clothes, my shoes, my perfume, how the house is decorated, what I cook, and more. If I smell a cinnamon candle in the spring it just seems so wrong. So very wrong. Or to wear lavender in the fall - shudder. I even have trouble looking at those purple mums mixed in the rust and gold mums in fall displays. And as for music, I can only play Jimmy Buffet if it's summer weather. My brother says he needs it in the winter to get him through, but steel drums in December makes my skin crawl.
So this shot of fall weather here the first week of September is making me antsy. It's not time yet and I'm afraid I'm going to get into a fall mood and then it will be 90 in a week. I did just check weather.com and the 10-day forecast remains autumnal.
When we lived in Jacksonville,FL, autumn was manufactured. The grocery stores would pile up apples, pumpkins, gourds and indian corn AND turn down the air conditioner. Even the office buildings would turn the air down so it would feel colder. (I'm not making this up.) That way everyone could wear their fall clothes. Men would don tweed sport coats and women would pull their sweaters to the front of the closet. Now in Tampa, it was just tropical, so there was no pretending there were seasons. Air conditioning stayed on, because it was hot outside.
In Chicago - well, summer was the season we manufactured by pretending we weren't cold all the time.
Interesting to have lived many places and have different experiences. It's a wonderful world out there!
I think I'll get my fall purse out of the closet - maybe.