Not-so-empty nest syndrome

Let’s talk empty-nest syndrome. I’m thinking of this because I’m looking at a nest stuffed with six barn swallows at Fountain Creek Regional Park. The squawking babies are crammed together in a mud pouch, and their mother swoops and dives, returning again and again as she tries to get them all fed.
The nest in this case is definitely not empty, but soon it will be. The birds will learn to fly and will never return to this cozy (if a bit messy) home.
That’s how it goes in the bird world. The human world is more complicated.
Our daughter – our only child – graduated from college two months ago. She left home for college after high school, leaving me in the throes of empty-nest syndrome. Then, unexpectedly, she came back, living at home for six months after she transferred and she finished school nearby.
In May, she left again. “This time, it’s for good,” she told me. “OK,” I said, secretly hoping that she would return once more, because I like having her around. She knows it could happen; so do we. So many of her friends – college students and recent graduates – are struggling to find jobs and find their places in the world. Many are living with their parents longer than they ever thought they would.
It’s not the same world it was when we graduated from college, we told our daughter. It’s a lot harder to live on your own when jobs offer low pay, few benefits and little job security.
She’s luckier than many of her friends – she has a full-time job she likes, that pays more than minimum wage. She rents an apartment with two friends. Her car is paid off. She’s not sure what she wants to do with her life, but we tell her that will come.
We have tried to instill in her the quality of optimism. We want her to feel like there are no limits to what she could do. But we’ll always keep the nest ready, just in case.