Empty Nest...

Today we moved my youngest daughter Amanda out of our house to an apartment. What an excited young lady she is....what a sad Mom and Dad that have been left behind. The day started out with a flurry of things to do....get our new ID cards, pack the truck and the two cars, get Amanda to the apartment complex by 11:00am, get the new dryer fixed and keep myself calm! ID cards done, truck and cars packed, Amanda made her appointment on time and then hubby waited for dryer guy. I took a load and when I arrived at the new apartment Amanda and her best friend Ashley were beaming with excitement! They had the keys and were just waiting to show me their newly painted two bedroom apartment 5 blocks from the oceanfront. Do you remember when you were young and had that dream to move out with your best friend and have tons of fun? Well these two girls have had this dream as long as I can remember. They had been best friends since elementary school and have always wanted to live together. Ashley has lived here at our home so much that I wanted to claim her as a dependant! And Amanda was at her home just as much! I do consider Ashley my 3rd daughter and love her as much!! So today when I saw these two with as much excitement as they had I realized that their dream has come true! How many of us can say that? We moved all their "stuff" into the apartment and of course they are on the second floor, so I did get my workout today up and down those stairs! After all the moving in, hubby and I took the girls to dinner at one of our favorite little oceanfront restaurants. Then had one more dresser to bring to the apartment. Once that was delivered and we were ready to go, I was about to lose it...but instead, gave both girls a huge hug, kissed them and told them I loved them both. As I walked out the door, the last thing I did say was, "Be sure to lock your door". The Mom in me just doesn't stop! :) The ride home was terrible...I wanted to cry, I wanted to turn around and go back, I wanted to rent the apartment next to them...but all I did was get into the truck and hubby drove me home. On the way down the interstate I said to hubby "20 yrs ago we came down this road to get our baby, and now we are going back down this road to drop her off and I don't like it one bit!" I can hardly believe it's been almost 20 years since I delivered that round faced sweet girl and now she's all grown up. It was difficult when my oldest moved out, she was the first and now with the youngest moving, well she's the last, the baby...my mini-mi... (she will laugh at that). Empty nesters we are now...what will I do with all this free time? I'm sure I'll figure out something but until then.......Good night my sweet girls, sleep tight and I love you!!!!!