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Nothing changes, everything changes! Four years ago, our family moved to Hong Kong so that our kids could get an experience in Asia. We are now accompanying our last child to her University move-in day. Time has passed without notice...
Every summer, we leave the humidity of Hong Kong to spend a few weeks vacationing somewhere around the world. It is a time for the family to reunite (our son, Markian, is away at University), discover new horizons, live new experiences and create lasting memories.
This year, our trip is a little different. Our daughter, Kalina, just graduated from high school and is getting ready for University. We will soon help her settle in her new life. She won't come back to Asia with us this fall...
We have become empty nesters. It's now all about us!
Life will be different. We are starting a new stage. First we lived through our youth and university cycle, then through our family and career building period, we are now embarking on our third lap as middle aged empty nesters.
The Third Lap
All couples go through this with more or less stress, it often ends us being a time to reflect on the past (especially the last twenty years), evaluate relationships and question one's purpose in life. Sometimes the outcome leads to bouts of confusion, even depression.
We tend to see it as a period of rejuvenation. The main reason is that we are looking at the next fifty years, and not at the typical twenty or thirty years of old age. For us, a new lap is starting full of possibilities. We have a bucket list full of experiences to live. And we know that the more unusual these adventures are, the more likely our children are likely to join (with or without their friends), the more memories we will build with them.
So in fact, nothing has changed: we will continue our digital nomad life of learning, sharing and meeting awesome people; we will keep taking care of our health and continue the struggle to financially sustain our lifestyle... Yet everything has changed: without school constraints, the opportunities are truly endless. We find ourselves at fifty in a similar (better?) situation than any recent university graduate!
Our motto: Make lasting memories today!
Please let us know what your third lap looks like, and share with us your own path forward.