What I Did on My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it with 8 wonderful women.

Bear with me and you’ll understand why I’m writing about this in on my college blog.

I decided to throw the first birthday party that I’ve had since I was a kid. The reason? Because I didn’t want to be alone on my birthday. Without realizing the date, my husband had booked a flight to Denver to visit his 93-year-old father. And my son and daughter won’t be home from college for a few more days.

Rather than simply sharing the day with Minerva, my golden retriever, I decided to invite some fascinating women who I admire to dinner last night. You can’t go wrong with food when it includes coq au vin, smoked salmon, puff pastry and a red velvet cake.

Reconnecting With Friends and Making New Ones When Your Kids Are in College

What does this have to do with college??

I had originally balked at having a party because I thought that since this was the Christmas season, lots of these women would have other better plans. Would they want to come to my little party?  After stressing about it, I decided to extend the invitations because this is the time in my life when my husband and I need to reconnect with people socially.

For two decades, we’ve been so focused on our children and their activities and now that they are in college, we need to focus on ourselves and on our own social bonds with friends and people we admire who we would like to know better.

At the dinner party, the women talked about this. Some of my friends have children in college and the rest are on the cusp of this event. All of them seemed to share my sentiments that working on friendships and making new ones is an excellent way to become a happy empty nester.

I know I had a lovely time and I’m not going to wait for my birthday to try it again.

Read More:

Kicking the Empty Nest Blues