AARP Rewards Online Community Empty Nest Contest 2025

I've been an empty nester for a long time and am now retired. The first year of retirement was like a honeymoon without any restrictions on my time! But having just ended the second year, I felt I was lacking purpose. I didn't miss meetings or long commute, however, there definitely was something missing. I volunteered through my church on weekends, but still what something more to do with my time. Fast-forward: I now have a part-time job and I'm in a certification programat night! I'm busy but not overly busy and still have free time to travel or catch brunch with friends. I think I have the best of whole world right now! 

Becoming an empty nester was a heartbreaking process as well as an accomplishment for both of us. We dedicated our lives to nurturing and managing our children’s existence without one ounce of regret. It took about 5 years plus to accept all that had been accomplished emotionally and financially. Whenever we offered support, receiving “No I’m good”, felt like rejection. They both had to explain how they appreciated the offers, but that we had prepared them well and if need be they knew how to ask for advice. As parents we went out our way to ensure that our children never felt the “need” or “want” of anything.
As husband and wife we feel blessed to really like and love each other very much. It has made the struggle easier and more compelling in re-establishing our relationship with no consideration to space, time or money. It took us 5 years plus to learn dependency is not a life long status, but love and appreciation is. 

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@AARPTeri wrote:

Now that the nest is empty, it’s your time to soar — and we want to celebrate your journey with AARP Rewards!

 

Join the AARP Rewards Connect Forum for a fun, feel-good contest focused on how you’re embracing this next chapter — and share your story.  Starting Monday, September 8, 2025 reply to this post sharing ways you are reconnecting, revelling in downtime or reinventing your weekend. 

 

We look forward to seeing your great posts!  Official Rules can be found here  -https://community.aarp.org/t5/AARP-Rewards-Connect/AARP-Rewards-Online-Community-Empty-Nest-Contest-2025-Official/m-p/2623489 

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Empty nest has been both exciting and well empty. The quiet can be deafening. Yet when back into the noise that too can be deafening! Love going thru all the changes life has since the alternative is not welcomed. We still have a lot of living and exploring to do. As an empty nester, it’s easier to car camp. Let the exploring begin. 

1. Becoming empty nesters was step one. Watching our children spread their wings was an awesome accomplishment.

2. Step two was retirement. My husband retired six years before me. He loved doing things around the house (laundry, cooking etc). 

3. After I lost my job and retired we started traveling more. We bought a motorhome and headed south. We now spend our winters in Florida. Hurricane Ian destroyed our home in Fort Myers so we are now renting. Being empty nesters has its up and downs because we miss everyone but loving the retirement years.

Embracing our empty nest was difficult at first. Being used to grocery shopping and cooking for a family of five became cooking for two. Now that I have reduced the groceries and cooking and way less cleaning we have found ourselves with more free time. 

I had longer to go back and finish college that I started so many years ago. I am proud to report I will graduate with my bachelors degree December 10 and will begin my Masters degree in January. Following a dream I have had for the last 30 years raising kids has given me confidence and pride in accomplishing such a long term goal. 

I am a 54 year old mother and grandma my son who is 32 years old moved out about 6 months ago with my granddaughter who is 5 years old.

I do miss them but it was time to let him be out on his own and believe it or not I have the best peace of mind although I'm single it's ok. You never know I may eventually meet someone who knows.

Our nest has been empty for over fifteen years and my husband and I have spent the past few years practicing for retirement. Daily we rise with the birds and my husband takes a two mile walk with our german shepherd  before he must go to work every day. I enjoy a more lesuirely morning and sip my hot coffee as I read my AARP and perhaps enjoy a quiz or two. I am partially retired and have the luxury of choosing my own hours teaching Senior exercise class, a job I adore. Once he returns I chirp my questions to him and he warbles his answers. "Did he see the owl today?" This is always a treat and more than once the owl has mistaken the dog ball for a rodent and attempted to to snatch it away. A hawk is a more common sighting, yet always a pleasure to see as it soars high above the earth. 

While my husband is showering it's my turn to take out the dog as she is never too tired for a walk. My path is a different one around a small pond which we travel daily. I will usually see ducks and geese and a chickadee or two. The heron may or may not make an appearance but is always such a rewarding sight.  

When the work day is done it's time for us to take our dog walk together. Often we are accompanied by a few gradchildren as they live just down the street. Sometimes we walk his route and other times mine but this is our time. After forty years together we do not hurry but rather meander along, pausing every so often as my husband utilizes the "Merlin" app which identifies birdsong. 

Evening birdsong is the sweetest ever and we relish this time.  

We will then enjoy our evening meal and with the dishwasher humming pleasantly we will settle into our nest and plan our imminent retirement. 

We will plot and scheme and discuss tiny details as we dream of the future. 

Again, we are still just practicing, but as they say, practice makes perfect!

The echo was the first thing they noticed. For twenty-five years, the house had been filled with the low-thrumming beat of teenage life: refrigerator doors slamming, video game shouts, the distant, muffled sound of a washing machine running until 2 AM, and, most recently, the celebratory roar of LSU football broadcasts that rattled the windows.

Now, silence. A beautiful, profound silence.

The last of the moving boxes—packed mostly with well-worn textbooks and slightly-too-small purple and gold hoodies—were finally gone, driven off to two separate apartments in two different cities where Dean and Daniel had started their careers. Their boys were launched, and now, it was Janet and Ricky’s turn.

“Are we doing this right?” Janet asked one Tuesday evening, pausing the remote halfway between Survivor and S.V.U. She was curled on the couch, her feet tucked under Ricky’s leg.

Ricky, who was scrolling through vacation rentals on his iPad, didn't look up immediately. “Are we doing what right?”

“This,” she gestured vaguely at the living room, which was pristine—no abandoned socks, no stray chip bags, no debate over which console needed the HDMI port. “We haven’t eaten dinner before 8:30 PM since Daniel was a toddler. We're watching movies we choose. We’re traveling to places where there are no required university tours.”

Ricky finally put the iPad down, turning to meet her eyes. “I think we are, darling. I think we’re entering the victory lap.”

Their first real taste of freedom was a weekend trip to Gulfport, Mississippi. They booked it on a Thursday morning, leaving on Friday afternoon. No complex schedules to coordinate, no texts about forgotten assignments, just two mid-fifties professionals throwing clothes into a bag and driving south. They spent Saturday afternoon walking hand-in-hand along the coast, eating seafood that didn't involve a drive-thru, and marveling at the luxury of only paying for two airline tickets in the future.

But the real magic happened in the mundane. Now, date night wasn't an event—it was just Tuesday. They found a new tapas place downtown with dim lighting and fantastic sangria. They talked about work, retirement fantasies (which always involved a beach and better Wi-Fi), and, often, they’d spend twenty minutes laughing about a ridiculous anecdote from one of the boys’ childhoods—a memory that had been too recent and too painful to be funny when it actually happened.

At home, their new rhythm was simple and profound. After a long workday, they would trade their tailored clothes for comfortable sweats, cook a simple, delicious meal (usually something messy and flavorful that they knew the boys wouldn’t have touched), and retreat to the sanctuary of the living room.

The couch, once a battleground for territory and volume control, was now their fortress. They binged shows and films, sharing a massive bowl of popcorn and debating every plot twist. More often than not, Ricky would wake up to the sound of the end credits rolling, Janet asleep against his shoulder, her hand resting softly on his chest.

It wasn’t just silence in the house; it was space. Space to breathe, space to connect, and space to anticipate. As they watched their boys build independent lives, Ricky and Janet found themselves feeling lighter, filled with pride and a deep, quiet excitement for the future.

“You know,” Janet murmured one night, looking at a photo of the two boys shaking hands with their LSU dean. “The house is too quiet, sure. But just think, someday, we’ll need to make room again. For grandkids. Tiny little Tigers running around.”

Ricky smiled, pulling her closer. “Let them figure out the careers first. But yeah. We’ll be ready. We’ve got the quiet house, and we’ve got all the practice we need being supportive. For now, though,” he picked up the remote, “turn off the light, and let’s see if we can finish this movie before midnight.”

Love having an empty nest for a while now. Grand parents of 8. Some live right down the street, but the newest one lives 3 hours away. I miss not being able to see him. We still have to work 6 days a week so we can’t take the time off to go. Our car is wearing out and we’re barely make it each month for money. SS and income are not enough. Maybe I’ll win the lottery and won’t have to work. 

The first time I experienced a feeling of the empty nest was when our son Victor went to boarding school at the age of fourteen.  This helped set the stage even though we drove down to spend part of every weekend.  Then our daughter Tamika joined him after her 8th grade graduation.  Had we been in better financial shape we would have simply had them live and home and go to the nearby church school but this for us was the best solution.  We burned thousands of miles traveling back and forth every weekend until both graduated and moved on to college.  We also spend thousands of dollars affording this educational adventure.  After the high school experience college was a breeze .  The children were closer and we could breath because tuition was more affordable. Both of the children graduated from college and moved on to their professional lives.