The nest is empty

Balcony view of downtown Toronto

It's been a busy, hectic, exciting time here at the Locken household over this past long weekend. After 25 years of being able to tick off the yes box on surveys asking if we have children living at home, it'll be the no box for us from now on. The captain and I are now officially empty nesters. I mentioned earlier in July that our son was moving in with his girlfriend -- and this weekend the big move occurred. I have been humming the theme song to The Jeffersons for days now: .....we're movin' on up, to a deluxe apartment in the sky..... sorry, now you'll probably be humming it too. I took the above photo off their balcony before the big moving hubbub started. Truth be told, I took dozens and dozens of photos. They have a spectacular view and when night fell, it was even more amazing. The downtown lights are beautiful.

The move happened without incident. I don't think our son and his friends who had volunteered to help with the heavy stuff appreciated that the captain and I made everyone start very early Saturday morning, but when it was only the lunch hour on Saturday and all the boxes and furniture had made their way into the spiffy downtown apartment, I think they understood the advantage of getting an early start.

It's been an exhausting few days for us. On Friday they got their keys and we moved the boxes containing kitchen stuff into the apartment, and while I helped Joanna unpack those boxes and get the dishes put away, another load was brought from our house down to the apartment. More unpacking, and then an early night because of the imminent move. Saturday we had rain -- the curse of any move -- but it didn't start until after we had moved everything in. Yay! On Sunday, our son moved all his dj equipment and record albums and then we took them out for a Thai dinner, to a restaurant they recommended on Yonge Street, just south of Bloor. They are walking distance to Yonge Street, arguably the most important downtown street in Toronto. It's a 24/7 beehive of activity smack in the middle of the big smoke. And yesterday it was a trip to Ikea to pick up a missing dresser-top and then a shopping expedition through Ikea, and the grocery store as well.

I believe I am supposed to be sad now that the nest is empty, but I'm not. I'm just so happy for the two of them. It's so exciting to be starting off like this. The future is wide open and there's the potential for so much to happen. Very heady times.

But I had forgotten what a chore it is to move. It's not just the packing and then subsequent unpacking. It's all the details that have to be made like change-of-address notifications, waiting for the cable guy, stocking up the fridge, picking up all the little things you discover you need, arranging the furniture then rearranging it. When was the last time you moved? Did it go well? When the captain and I moved into this home in 1992, I swore I'd never move again. It's just so much work!