What Now

August 18, 2026

Well, it’s finally here.

All three of my kids are out of the house.

I officially have an empty nest.

Truth be told, I have been waiting for this day.

Having three kids in three years meant they moved through similar life stages around the same time. And with all of the massive life changes I have experienced over the past several years, part of me has felt like I was in a waiting game for this last big, known transition.

Jack leaving home.

And now, it is here.

I’m sitting in my hotel room in Colorado Springs, tired from our exciting and busy road trip, drinking my coffee and wondering what I am going to do with myself today while I wait for Robin and Desiree to fly in this afternoon.

And somewhere underneath that very ordinary question is a much bigger one.

Well, now it’s here. What’s next?

It’s not that I don’t know what I want to do.

It’s more that I don’t know which things I want to pour my energy into first.

There are so many possibilities in front of me. And now the lack of school board candidates back home, and my thoughts about whether I have a role to play in that, have added another possibility I wasn’t expecting.

So I don’t know exactly what order things will happen in.

I don’t know the timeline.

And maybe I don’t need to.

Robin and Desiree arrive in Colorado Springs today. We’ll spend a few days exploring and soaking in the sunshine before moving Desiree into her dorm on Sunday.

Then I’ll head back to Ketchikan on Monday with a couple of weeks to pour some energy into the transitions happening in my life before traveling to Finland, Estonia, and Latvia next month, followed by a humanitarian trip to Fiji in October.

And then I’ll go from there.

There are decisions to make. Things I want to build. Places I want to go. Work I want to do. A whole life opening up in front of me that, for the first time in more than two decades, doesn’t have to be organized around raising children.

That is enormous.

But I don’t have to figure out what to do with all of that freedom this morning.

This morning, I think I’ll simply enjoy my coffee, the view, and the warm Colorado sunshine.

And soak in the gratitude I feel.

The next chapter is here.

And for today, I don’t need to answer the question, What now?