EMPTY NEST: A bittersweet transition

Life is full of transition and change, becoming an "empty nester" is one of the most difficult phases a parent must navigate. Sending love and respect and a whole lot of support your way if you're in the midst! ~ Delilah 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, it's Delilah. Thank you for stopping by. I have
put together some of my favorite radio moments here to
share with you on our daily podcast. I got a
Swede letter from Kimberly, who says I'm writing you because
I'm going through a very hard time right now. I

(00:25):
am suffering from the Empty Nest Syndrome. My daughter is
doing an internship with the Salvation Army. She's going to
be a pastor when she gets married in December. Her
twin brother is in the marines. He's currently out of
the country. They're my babies there. Twenty one. My oldest
son is he lives in the big apple with my

(00:46):
only grand baby, who's two. My life has always been
focused around my children. As a single mom, I was
all they had their lives growing up. I gave the
kids all that I am, but now I miss my babies.
I know they're grown up, I know I've done all
I can do and letting them go, but I don't

(01:08):
know who I am anymore. I don't know what to do.
So I spent a lot of time crying, worrying, crying, worrying.
I never realized how lost I would be without them.
I want them to know I love them, but also
that I'm so proud of the adults they have become
and I missed them so very much. Kimberly, thank you

(01:29):
for writing U. Two things I would suggest. Number one,
it's time for you to have fun. It's time for
you to take up a craft, to get involved passionately
with something like point hope, my Ngo, my charity that
endeavors to be a voice for forgotten children. You could
advocate and help so many kids. And number two, you

(01:53):
have the heart of a Mama. You have the heart
of a Mama, so why not be a foster parent?
Why not? UH, why not be a mentor? You obviously
connect with and love young people. Kimberly, don't stop. There
are so many kids, especially in foster care, who would

(02:14):
give anything to have a beautiful Mama with a heart
like yours. Hi, thanks for calling. What can I do
for you? Jane, Hi, Delilah, how are you this evening?
I'm wonderful. That's my four wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, happy anniversary,

(02:38):
happy anniversary, happy anniversary. It's awesome. Both kids are off
the college. So husband and I, we joke about but
it's like we're starting all over again. We were on
a budget and we're just the two of us with it.
So it is great and I just wanted I thought
of you today because my husband and I have I

(03:00):
don't hear tears in your voice, Jane, over the Emptiness Syndrome. No,
I'm hearing you are loving this, absolutely no tears whatsoever.
We are loving it. You're like kids. Love you. Bye. See, hi.
Daddy and I are gonna go have fun now. By Bye.
In fact, it's probably this till lie, the oldest one,
and possibly will have to move back home and she

(03:22):
graduates and I am dready. We're like no, no, no,
you're not going to find an apartment, honey, daddy and
I are having fun. Yes, exactly, exactly. It's like, how
long are you going to be around? So, and that's
one of the reasons why I'm calling you today. We
made a little deal that that we weren't going to

(03:43):
get each other anything because we're planning a trip and
I made a deal with him. Well, I'm not gonna
make any promises, I'll get you at least a card. Well,
yesterday I had to met to him that I forgot
about the card and he admitted that he did too,
and we loved each other so well. We still love
each other well. He stayed up last night and wrote
the long, beautiful poem for me and it was waiting
near this morning and I thought now I have to

(04:05):
go to something, and I thought of Delilah, because he
loves listening to your radio station. All right, how fun.
Thank you. Bye, bye, bye, bye. Carol. You've called the
Delilah show. What can I do for you? Hi, hi, Delilah,
I'd like you to play a song for my children, Um,
actually my young adult children. My son is twenty one

(04:27):
and my daughter is eighteen. His name is drew and
hers Antha, and I miss them. They both moved out
of the House. They have been my rock for about
seven years now and I just wanted to know how
how special they are to me and how much I
miss him. I get to see him once in a while.

(04:48):
I missed terribly. All right, mom, I will play a
song for those who have an empty nest broken heart tonight.
Thank you, Delila. Hanging there. Hi, good evening, you've called, Delilah.
WHO's this? Hi, this is Edward. How are you doing, Edward?

(05:10):
I'm wonderful. How are you? Oh, just fine, what can
I do for you? You're a song from my wife.
We have been together thirty nine, married thirty seven and, uh,
she told me just the other day. She says, you
know what, Edward, she says, we were alone when we
first met. Now we have three children and they are
all they're all gone now, and now three is some

(05:32):
years later we're alone again. The emptiness syndrome exactly. It
makes me forget that I've had it for this long.
She's always been wonderful to to the kids and I
want something special for her, something that says you're my
best friend and always has been, and there's nobody I'd
rather be alone with than you. Always be with her, Edward,

(05:54):
if you had to do it all over again, would
you do it with her all over again? Hi, thank
you for calling. This is Delilah. Hi, how are you
this evening? This is Diane. Hi, Diane, I'm wonderful you're

(06:16):
on the road tonight. Oh great, well, I was hoping
that you could find the song to my husband Scott.
All Right, tell me about your hubby. We've been married
about five years and together we have three sons. You know,
we commingled families and great father, great husband, and get
along very, very well. So how old are your children?

(06:40):
And Eighteen, all boys. So you're almost at that stage
where you're like free to take off. Yeah, probably about
nine weeks down. We went from a three year plan
to a two year plan and went down to just
a few weeks now and they're all doing very well
college and everything. So we're doing great. Good for you.

(07:02):
And what's your hubbies name? His name is Scott Okay Dan.
I will find a special sign to let him know
how much you love him, and that would be great.
I A Lisa. Welcome aboard Um. Well, let's see, I'm

(07:23):
thinking about my husband a lot lately. And what's his name?
His name is Dwyane and we've been married for twenty
one years. We have two beautiful children together and they're
grown and now he and I are in this position
where it's like Empty Nest Um, where we don't feel

(07:45):
like we're needed, and so every time we turn around
they say, you know, Oh, mom, don't worry about this
or don't worry about that, but you know, it's hard
not to, because they're your children and you love them
and you want that's best for them. And how old
are they? They are twenty and eighteen. Well, they're not

(08:05):
that grown up yet. No, they just say they are.
Uh Huh. So they're trying to spread their wings and
fly and you're like not, don't fly so fast, so
far exactly. We missed him a lot. How about this,
how about I find a song for you in your
hubby tonight that you can focus on each other now

(08:26):
that those kids are a little bit older, and you
can just focus on the romance and rekindle that. That
would be wonderful. All right, good luck, Mama Bear. You.
Thank you. Hi Gail, hi, Delilah, what a joy to
speak with you. Thank you, welcome aboard. What can I
do for you? Thank you. I want to dedicate a

(08:46):
song to my husband, who is also my best friend
and my boyfriend. We've been married for ten years and
together for fourteen. I was a single mom with two children,
two and a half and five, when we first met
and I was working two jobs and, needless to say,
the stress was incredible. He had never been married and

(09:09):
he was thirty eight at the time, a little bit
older than I was. And Anyway, we UM in four years,
we dated and Um. Our children are now eighteen and
twenty one. They're both in college. It's a boy and
a girl and this is the first month and a

(09:30):
half that we have ever been alone together in this
house and is it very, very weird. It is wonderful really.
In fact, he said, do you think we should change
the locks? They don't come good. No, we love the kids.
They Call Him Papa and but you're loving being alone

(09:52):
and having, you know, a little romance at night. Kids
watching videos all my long and the telephone ringing and
the laundry room full and it's just it's wonderful. I
mean we I think every woman that they they have
their children, they grow up, they go away. You need
to find that boyfriend that you used to have, because

(10:14):
he's the same person and we really are lucky that way,
because we're very much in love and the spark is
still there and I just want to say he is
everything and now we're really enjoying having a marriage, which
we started our marriage with children, so everyone thought it
was going to fail, especially his family. It was very

(10:38):
difficult for me because I was not accepted in the beginning.
So it took years to prove that we really did
love each other. I so hope you have enjoyed these
radio moments as much as I enjoy bringing them to you.
I'll share more with you each weekday. Hey, it's Delilah

(10:59):
M L ver.