Sarah Ebner experienced Empty Nest Syndrome when her son was only 2 1/2. According to some experts it is possible to experience some version of Empty Nest Syndrome (the experience of loss and grief after a child leaves home) at previously unrecognized phases of development such as your youngest leaving for preschool, or beginning Kindergarten...
Ms. Ebner explains that she didn't feel similarly distressed when her oldest started Kindergarten because she still had a baby at home. It wasn't until the baby was old enough to engage in outside activities that she felt the stirrings of Empty Nest Syndrome.
I wonder if there's a counterpart syndrome: Empty Nest Envy? When I see the well-tanned exercised and well-rested people in their 50s and 60s (the ones who stop my little goslings for a kiss or pinch in the store), I daydream about the days of pottery and flower tending.
On the other hand, the longing those people have for my life is instructive.
[Photo: Daily Telegraph]
