I'm over at Catholic Mom today, with another installment of what I'm loosely calling "Tales from the Empty Nest"

Have I told you how much I love CatholicMom.com, and its intrepid and wise founder-turned-author Lisa Hendey? Sure, you've probably heard me sing those praises before. But, no joke, check it out if you are a Catholic Mom and you're looking for information, inspiration, and a dose of fun for your Catholic Mommy Years. Back in the dark ages of CatholicMom, oh I'd say about two website iterations ago, I started writing for Lisa, and it continues to be a favorite stop for me, even tho' I'm not in the trenches anymore with small children. So, I'm writing about what I do now as a Mom....

Here's a snippet from "The Letter to the College Freshmen":

Dear Peter, 

I hope your life at college is going well. Your last email and your Facebook statuses all sound pretty positive. Your departure as the youngest child off to college means that there are a few new things going on around here. So I thought I’d let you know about them before you arrive home between semesters. 

After 24 years of parenting, I’ve gotten rid of the infamous lost sock bag. That’s right. Let the purging begin. I matched what could be matched, and the rest will be recycled into grease rags for Dad’s auto repair kit, dust cloths, and doggie chew toys. There are only two people here now, one guy, one gal. Finding mated sock pairs is pretty easy. But I almost caved on the whole project when I got to the bottom of the bag and found blue socks from when you were little. No lie! Blue uniform socks from grade school! *sniff* Unmatched in size, of course! But I could not throw them away. Not quite yet. I am keeping them in an undisclosed location since there is no more random sock bag.

Oh there's more. Find it here.

The Gohn "kiddos"

(That's Peter's high school graduation.)

Here's an earlier installment on the launching and sending off of sons. (Um, and another one about the oldest finishing college and leaving home.)