#stepkids — Public Fediverse posts

Empty Nest… Again

We became empty nesters in 2021 when my step son left for college. My step daughter is two years older and she left for college in 2019. She finished her undergrad in 2023 and went to work at the same University in a research lab. My step son finished his under grad in 2025 and started grad school the next semester.

Also in 2025 my step daughter’s contract with the research lab finished. It was time for her to move on. Grad school was next, but she did not yet have anything lined up. She was going to need some time to work everything out so she moved back home temporarily and for a while we were no longer empty nesters.

Like I said though, it was temporary and today is the day that it ends. Next weekend we are flying out to California to help her move into her new University housing. About an hour ago she left the house so she can spend the rest of this week at her dad’s. He isn’t going out to CA right away so she’s going to spend some time with him while she can. 

So technically speaking, she hasn’t actually moved out yet. That will happen, strictly speaking, on Saturday. Still… she won’t be back here until Saturday morning and that will just be to meet up with me and her mother for the drive to the airport.

So now we’re back to being empty nesters again. We also have to deal with the mixed feelings that come with it. On the one hand, she’s moving to southern California to start a PHD program. How awesome is that? She’s about to go through an amazing experience. I can’t wait to see what she does next, and I can’t wait to see what life has in store for her. She is incredible and she is going to do incredible things. At the same time, I don’t want her to go. My wife and I are really sad right now. We miss her already.

I am going to focus on the positives and try to just be excited for her. I don’t know if I can cheat myself that way, but I am going to try.

Today is Father’s Day here in the United States. Is it Father’s Day anywhere else? I don’t know.

Are you a father? A dad? Are you, like me, a step father or someone who fills the roll of a father? Are you a single mother who takes on a father’s responsibilities? Well then, today is your day.

May your kids shower you with love and affection today. We are going to have lunch with my father, which should be lovely. My step kids are having lunch with their father, as it absolutely should be, and then they are coming to our house for dinner. I am touched.

I always feel conflicted on Father’s Day. I don’t want to be the kind of person who tries to take attention away from my step kids’ actual father, but at the same time they always make a point to make me feel loved on Father’s Day and I absolutely love that they do that for me. I am overwhelmed by how much I love my step kids. I call them my kids because to my eyes I couldn’t love them more if they were my biological children. I think if I loved them more I would literally explode. So while I do feel conflicted today, my step kids ignore that and treat me like the real deal and I cannot thank them enough.

I say it all the time, I am stunned that they keep me around at all never mind treat me like an actual parent that they care about. They are amazing. It’s that simple. I can’t put it any other way. My step kids, Bellana and Harry, are utterly, unequivocally, objectively, amazing people.

May your Father’s Day be a happy one. Fathers, love your kids. Kids, love your fathers. If it is not Father’s Day in your neighborhood you have my permission to act like it is and have yourself a merry little unofficial Father’s Day.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/06/16/happy-fathers-day-11/

#affection #blendedFamily #extendedFamily #Family #father #fathersDay #Love #Parenting #stepFather #StepKids

So the plan for tomorrow, a sort of random vacation day in the middle of the week.

We have a ton of stuff that we bought for the kitchen remodel that we didn’t end up needing. Some from Home Depot, some from Lowe’s, and some from Wal-Mart. I plan on spending a nice chunk of the morning returning as much of that crap as I can. I thought about going to IKEA to return some of the mountain of leftover stuff we need to bring back but the receipts are all confused. We have to work it all out before we bring stuff back.

When I get home it will be about time to head to the airport. Both kids should be here by the time we need to leave. One, Harry, is here already. The other, Bellana, will be cutting it close but there should be enough time. It’s going to work out so that I can drive them both into the city at the same time. Originally I thought I would be playing Robbie the Airport Shuttle Guy twice, but now it looks like we can consolidate the two down to one. Nice.

After that I will go home again and make dinner for the love of my life and then hang out, missing the kids, until bed time.

Busy day on tap, yes it is. It should be fun.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/06/tomorrow-12/

#Airport #bellana #bostonLoganAirport #collegeKids #Family #harry #Kids #springBreak #StepKids #toDoList #Travel #vacationDay

So the plan for tomorrow, a sort of random vacation day in the middle of the week.

We have a ton of stuff that we bought for the kitchen remodel that we didn’t end up needing. Some from Home Depot, some from Lowe’s, and some from Wal-Mart. I plan on spending a nice chunk of the morning returning as much of that crap as I can. I thought about going to IKEA to return some of the mountain of leftover stuff we need to bring back but the receipts are all confused. We have to work it all out before we bring stuff back.

When I get home it will be about time to head to the airport. Both kids should be here by the time we need to leave. One, Harry, is here already. The other, Bellana, will be cutting it close but there should be enough time. It’s going to work out so that I can drive them both into the city at the same time. Originally I thought I would be playing Robbie the Airport Shuttle Guy twice, but now it looks like we can consolidate the two down to one. Nice.

After that I will go home again and make dinner for the love of my life and then hang out, missing the kids, until bed time.

Busy day on tap, yes it is. It should be fun.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/06/tomorrow-12/

#Airport #bellana #bostonLoganAirport #collegeKids #Family #harry #Kids #springBreak #StepKids #toDoList #Travel #vacationDay

So the plan for tomorrow, a sort of random vacation day in the middle of the week.

We have a ton of stuff that we bought for the kitchen remodel that we didn’t end up needing. Some from Home Depot, some from Lowe’s, and some from Wal-Mart. I plan on spending a nice chunk of the morning returning as much of that crap as I can. I thought about going to IKEA to return some of the mountain of leftover stuff we need to bring back but the receipts are all confused. We have to work it all out before we bring stuff back.

When I get home it will be about time to head to the airport. Both kids should be here by the time we need to leave. One, Harry, is here already. The other, Bellana, will be cutting it close but there should be enough time. It’s going to work out so that I can drive them both into the city at the same time. Originally I thought I would be playing Robbie the Airport Shuttle Guy twice, but now it looks like we can consolidate the two down to one. Nice.

After that I will go home again and make dinner for the love of my life and then hang out, missing the kids, until bed time.

Busy day on tap, yes it is. It should be fun.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/06/tomorrow-12/

#Airport #bellana #bostonLoganAirport #collegeKids #Family #harry #Kids #springBreak #StepKids #toDoList #Travel #vacationDay