I have become one of those mothers I used to laugh at. Remember the mothers who cried when they put their little ones on the school bus for the first day of kindergarten? The ones who slipped tear-stained middle-school graduation pictures into the ongoing and seemingly perpetual scrapbook? All I could see back then was the few hours of newly gained freedom I would enjoy each day--the loosening of the reins that ran between me and my child...the light relaxation of constant vigilance.

That's great--until you send the last one off to college...two thousand miles away. It feels like I just gave him the car keys and he's driven off with the car---which happens to be my life. I'm just about past the part where soppy country songs about mothers make me cry. I've pretty much mastered the self-pity part. Haven't yet managed to cook only enough for two.

The trick seems to be to look at it not just as a beginning for our kids, but as a beginning for us--to find who we are now. No matter how ill-fitting some of us may have found the maternal mantel, we wore it for a long time. And truth is, we won't stop being parents. We just stop being in situ and become eminus. Or as a New York Times columnist put it, we're downsized moms.

I was given a book as a gift meant to console, but that actually made me curl up in the fetal position. I highly recommend The Empty Nest, edited by Karen Stabiner, to any parent who is anticipating, dreading, living in, or finally over the cutely named 'empty nest syndrome.' Once you get past the essays that make you crawl into the closet weeping, there are great insights into the relationship of adult parents and adult children (or faux-adult children, depending on how grown-up your kid is).

Contributors include one of my favorites, Anna Quindlen; columnist Ellen Goodman; Harry Shearer; novelist Susan Shreve; another favorite--Letty Cotin Pogrebin--and many more.

Next time some Gen-Xer or your children roll their eyes at how out-of-date we old folks are, you might point them to this article on MSNBC.com. Yes kiddies--we did pretty much invent the technology that you claim so proudly as your own. And if the kids' multi-tasking, limited attention span kicks in and they can't bother to actually read the article, try this quote on them:

The boomers themselves can take credit for shaping the course of this technology if not the entire direction of the digital revolution. Gates is among a cadre of industry pioneers now in their 50s. But several decades ago they were tech-savvy kids who seized the moment when their elders had no clue...In the 1960s and early 1970s, many in the counterculture absolutely loathed computers and everything about them. They were seen as part of the Defense Department's War Machine, and also associated with depersonalization of a mass society.

But boomer math nerds, who figured out how to finagle computer time, didn't care...the idea arose that computers could empower people.

Whenever we want o feel the pluse of the Baby Boomer Generation (or more likely, the thud of silence) we drag this article out, polish it off and ask you old farts to say something - anything.

Now, just in case you're wondering, we're about to breech the 1000 comment mark and I'd just as soon get it over with. I know it doesn't sound like many comments, but getting you guys to actually say anything is like pulling teeth... heck, spelling doesn't even count anymore (which I guess makes every single Gen-Xer eligible.)

So, here ya go - have at it and may you be the 1000th.

Original post:

Once again, we bring back the wildly popular "Graffiti Wall." Just open up your Baby Boomer mouth and let something spew forth.

As always, hate mongering gets you punted. Writing anything (including "Hi from Pete in NJ") will get you a gold star... now don't you feel better already?

Just use the "Discuss" link below and remember, spelling doesn't count.