When I Realized That They Didn't Live Here Anymore

When it dawned on me that Brittany didn't live here anymore was while I was doing laundry a few days after we moved her to Eastern. I was folding clothes. I had Brent's pile, Chad's pile and my pile. When I realized that there was no pile for Brittany, I just lost it. An hour later when Brent came home from work and asked me what was wrong, all I could say was "I didn't have a pile for Brittany".
When it dawned on me that Chad didn't live here anymore was one night when one of his favorite TV shows was coming on and I went to tell him. I was at his bedroom door when I realized that he was not here. I didn't cry but my heart fell to my stomach.
After years of practices, ballgames, cheer leading competitions, band competitions, golf matches, PTO meetings, Open Houses, Fall Festivals, hauling a van load of kids to the movies, to the mall and birthday parties, all of the sudden it was over. There was no where to go, nothing to do.
I would just laugh when mothers would warn me about "empty nest syndrome". I thought that it would be nice to slow things down a little. It would have been, to just slowed down I guess, but to stop completely was like running into a brick wall. Brent and I are starting to get used to going places that we like now, but it still feels like something (or someone) is missing.