The Empty Nest Syndrome

I am in a play called This Day and Age, by Nagle Jackson, which is scheduled for March 14-16. I play Marjorie, a 60-year-old widow, who plans to sell her home in Connecticut and move to New Zealand. Her 2 married children show up with plans to move in with Mom. The whole reason I tried out for this play is that I am also going through the Empty Nest Syndrome--2 of my 5 children are married, 2 are in college, and one is serving an internship in WV. Except for the 60-year-old widow part, and the selling out and moving to New Zealand part, and the fact that Marjorie is nouveau riche and I am "vieux poor," the main character and I have a lot in common. For 60 years, she feels that her life has been defined by what she did--daughter, wife, mother. (Which doesn't bother me in the least.) Marjorie really wants to find out who she is--and have people recognize her as an individual. She does not want her children to move back and force her to become yet another function, "grandmother." She loves her grandchildren and enjoys them as long as they go home at the end of the day. But she doesn't want to lose her identity in her grandchildren as she did in her husband, dogs, and children. Okay, here is another BIG difference. I wouldn't mind having any of my children move back home, but especially my grandchildren. It is hard having little Paul an ocean away in Africa, even though I am so proud of my daughter and son-in-law for their sacrificial service as career missionaries. But I think one trait I share with Marjorie is that she doesn't want her children to need to move back home. I would be glad to open my home to any and all of my children (although they won't all fit at once). But I am happier knowing that they have their own lives. Marjorie can see that if Ann and Tony move back home on their terms (with her as resident dowager), then they will be taking the easy way out. "Who says life was supposed to be easy?" Marjorie asks. She wants them to grow up and learn to stand on their own feet. To avoid mixed metaphors, she wants the fledglings to leave the nest and fly! She offers them the house if they really want to live there, but she has no plans to remain in it. She launches out on a brave new adventure--and here is where our paths really diverge. She wants to live in Manhattan!