Am I The Only One?

I've just survived my last Mother's Day with a minor child in my home. He's about to graduate from High School this month. I don't know what happened, but suddenly I'm finding myself facing a future of NOT being a Mom! When my first husband left me and my whole world exploded around me, I had to keep going and moving and doing the regular stuff because I had 5 children from the age of 12 on down depending on me. I wasn't a wife anymore, and that was hard enough to deal with, but I was a Mom! Not only that, but I was Super Mom - I was determined to do it all, to make sure my kids didn't lack for anything, to pull us through this crisis of being a broken family and we would all come out of it just fine in spite of it all! (cue trumpets)

So, now, like I said, I'm facing a time of not being Super Mom anymore, and I don't know what that means or how to handle it or even who I am if I'm not Mom. I look at friends around me who have gone through it or are going through the "empty nest" stage, and it looks to me like they're handling it a lot better than I am. Or, maybe I just can't see it. I'm hoping I'm not the only one struggling with it. 

I have many reasons for starting this blog: 

1. I think it will be therapeutic for me, and maybe others can come along for the ride. 
2. I'm hoping to use encouragement and humor to remind myself and other Empty Nesters that we've got a whole life ahead of us and that there's lots to look forward to. I'm a big list maker. I like to make lists like "Good things about being divorced" or "Blessings I didn't know I had" or something like that.
3. I want to include posts with ideas for how to stay active in my adult kids' lives - whether they want it or not! :) At least, that's my plan - if I can figure out how to do that. I'll be glad for any ideas anyone else has! 
4. I want to give encouragement and perspective to myself and others who are also dealing with children who are not following the teachings of the LDS church.

So...here they are. This was taken a couple of years ago as son #2 (in the middle)was about to be deployed to Iraq. He's home now, and safe, and now son #1 (black shirt on the right) is about to be deployed to Afghanistan this fall. (They're both in the National Guard only in different units)

Believe me, the "Molly Mormon" part of this blog was completely facetious. My life is not perfect, 4 of my 5 kids are inactive in the church and the jury is still out on the 5th child. I took my kids to church every Sunday, had Family Home Evening when I wasn't too tired after work, read scriptures with my kids most nights, and tried to spend time with my kids instead of making sure my house was spotless. I know how to quilt but usually tie quilts instead, I love to sew but rarely get to do it. I was a stay-at-home mom until my divorce and have had to work outside my home ever since. I hate cleaning bathrooms and my fridge, I never make my bed, and I'm a lousy Visiting Teacher. I love to teach - anything, any class in church, and would like to teach English at the high school, but have been staying with my present job while my son was finishing school because I get to work from home as an airline reservations agent. I've got lots of dreams and little resources, but I love my family: my kids, my husband, my parents and siblings, and my extended family. My whole life's calling has always been to organize family outings and get us all together. I don't know why - that just seems to be my "job" in my family. I'm good at some things and lousy at others, I have a hard time saying "I'm sorry" but I don't know how to keep my mouth shut when I should. I guess I'm just like many of you. 

This blog is for us imperfect, faithful, struggling, hopeful, loving, worried, empty nest LDS moms who just need to know we'll be ok and that we're not alone. We'll do it together. I'm looking forward to the journey!