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Welcome to Thinking Out Loud, a blog that contains postings from The Tampa Tribune’s Editorial Board and from various Tribune Community Columnists. Unlike the unsigned editorials that represent the newspaper’s institutional voice, the blog postings offer personal perspectives on the issues, personalities and events of Tampa Bay. We invite you to participate by posting your comments. We’ll do our best to respond.

Contributors:

Joe Guidry

Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.

Jeff Stidham

Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.

William Yelverton

William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.

Jim Beamguard

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.

Jackie Papandrew:

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.

Camille Beredjick

Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.

Jim Harnish

Jim Harnish is in his 17th year as Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. He and his wife, Marsha, have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethune-Cookman University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles and studies. He enjoys playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the Florida Gators.

Angela Hunt

Angela Hunt is a novelist living in Pinellas County with her husband and two 220-pound mastiffs.

Sheryl Young

Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.

Christie Gold

Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.

Natalie D. Preston

Natalie D. Preston is a karaoke singing, only-child pouting, Seminole Tomahawk waving, newlywed bride blushing, 50-state traveling, girlie girl who loves to shop, read, run and jump up and down on her soapbox.

Fernando Figueroa

Fernando Figueroa is a researcher, educator and lives in Riverview.

Gary Beemer

Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.

Kris DiGiovanni

Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com

H. David Braswell Jr.

H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.

Sean Marcus

Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com

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Empty Nest Syndrome

Posted Sep 7, 2010 by Gary Beemer

Updated Sep 7, 2010 at 05:24 AM

Years after I had hopped into my 1966 Ford Mustang and headed from New Jersey to Florida, my parents shared their feelings with me. While I was excited about the new life and adventures that lay ahead for me and my new bride, my parents were struggling with seeing their youngest son leave the nest and land so far away from home – never to return.

While I was driving they were crying, and as they later shared it was like sending me onto the freeway on my tricycle. Yes we visited once or twice a year, but our children were raised away from my parents and siblings. Life went on, and many good things happened, but most memories had to be shared via phone calls and pictures mailed of birthdays and graduations passed.

Raising children is a full time job, and when that job comes to an end it can be pretty unsettling. My bride and I are still together and have raised three fine young people who are all in college and working. Their many accomplishments bring us much joy, but as each left we experienced the “tricycle on the highway” feelings that my parents had endured years earlier.

When our daughter moved out it was tolerable because she lived near us. When our oldest son left, the 130 miles seemed like a million. When the last one left this year we finally realized that our job raising children had, for the most part, ended.

The house seems so empty at times and I find myself walking down the hall expecting to see one of them and getting a good morning hug. Instead it’s a phone call or text message to share their adventures and accomplishments, and thankfully all of them are close enough that we see each other often. I secretly hope that their vocations keep them close to home, as I now know what my parents felt, and continued to feel over the years.

The best parts of being empty nesters are quiet dinners with my lovely bride and more time to do things that we have delayed or forgotten about in our roles as parents. It is our time to blossom again, and provide an example to our children that life is indeed a beautiful thing, and that love endures and continues to grow - no matter where we are.

Reader Comments

Por (Jamie Westlake) on September 10, 2010

As I read these words, Gary, I realized another experience I won’t get to have- empty nest syndrome- because I don’t have any children. May you travel this new highway with grace, discernment, and even more joy!