Reply to Is it weird that I don’t fear getting old at all and I’m actually kind of looking forward to it?

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Reply to "Is it weird that I don’t fear getting old at all and I’m actually kind of looking forward to it?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It’s not being old you’re fantasizing about- it’s being retired and an empty nester.[/quote]

OP here. Yes but I don’t think it actually feels like freedom when the last kid goes to college, they are still coming home for summers, breaks and you are still mostly responsible for them. I don’t think the freedom comes until they are actual self serving adults completely on their own. I’ll be 55 or so when my last heads to college. Won’t be free until i’m guessing at least 60. Then another few years until retirement. So yeah, probably looking at 65 which most people do consider old.[/quote]

My kid went to college this year and I downshifted my career in a major way. I now have most of what you are longing for most of the time. There is so much more time. I do sort of long for not being responsible for anyone, and not having to do anything but what I want or need to do for myself. But I also can feel, now that I have more time than I did, that it is mostly exhaustion talking. We find meaning in our responsibilities to each other, in mattering to other people.

I think what you might really need is rest, OP. Rest from making dinner, carpool, homework nagging, laundry, summer camp planning, doctors appointments. You can get some relief by dropping the rope on some things now. But really, relief will come when the last one goes to college. Really.[/quote]

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