Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 375

Holiday Gifts For Her That She Will Love

I’ve always loved holiday shopping for my college daughter as I can think of so many cute and practical things for her, many that I would secretly love to have myself! If you have a daughter, niece or other young woman in your life, here are our favorite holiday gifts for her, 2017.

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New! Grown and Flown top picks for graduation and holiday gifts here .

Favorite Hol...

Awesome and Super Popular Holiday Gifts for Him

Gifts for guys are tough and for my teen and college sons, I often struggle. But here are some great, new, trendy holiday gifts for him – sons, nephews or even the adult men in your life!

We receive small amounts of compensation from purchases made through some of the links on this page which allows us to pay our writers. Thanks! 

NEW! See all of Grown and Flown top picks for holiday and grad gifts in one place. 

Favorite Holiday Gifts for Him 2017

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The best features of a home...

On Year Three in the Empty Nest and It’s Glorious

I recently shared a post that I wrote right after I became an empty nester. I lamented that my house didn’t really feel like a home anymore. That walking past my kids’ bedrooms wasn’t the problem, but that the empty nest emptiness in my kitchen was soul crushing. Well, I wasn’t quite that melodramatic, but you get my point.

Many readers said they could relate. Several thought it was depressing. I hear ya. Those first few weeks after the last birdy flew away were a low point on the happiness...

When Your Son’s New Love is the Other Woman

I knew this day was coming when you would walk through the door with HER;

The girl you say is everything.

I am queasy and nauseous and have my head bent between my knees to prevent another fainting episode.

We should never have sent you away to college. That was your father’s ingenious idea.

You could have lived at home and attended the local university and then we (or at least me) could have kept an eye on you and discouraged early love.

Her name is Diane.

Big Whoop!

She’s an honor student!...

So Sorry You’re Dropping Out of High School But I Get it

Today you brought me a withdrawal form.  I was not surprised.  Sad, but not surprised. I get it. I can see why you think dropping out is the best option for you. I won’t pretend to know exactly what’s going on with you.

I know your dad isn’t around anymore, and I know that you work weekends and everyday after school.  I know that school has been a struggle for you, possibly since day one.  I also know that we have failed you.

For years we promised not to leave you (or any child) behind. Yet...

Why Overnight College Visits are So Important AND Valuable

For both my girls, the college choosing process did not seem to be about falling in love.

We’d heard the stories, of course, of friends who’d gone on a college tour, or maybe just perused the web site, or who knew someone at a college and fell.in.love. Those students, it seemed, over and over, just knew they belonged at that college. They knew that was the number one choice – that all other choices would be second and third and fourth and fifth.

Maybe the student was so in love that he or sh...

Warning: I Struck an Unconventional Deal With My Son

My 17-year-old son only barely survived the bullying and misery of being stuck between two angry siblings: a sister and a step-sister, the three of them less than two years apart. He thus perfected a non-confrontational façade to create an easement for himself around an environment thick with fury and profanity, keeping his role in the family by ruffling as few feathers as possible, often at his own expense.

No one felt great about hurting him, but we all did it sometimes. His hurt feelings...

The Surprising and (Very) Bearable Lightness of My Empty Nest Life

One month. This is how long I have officially had an empty nest. In truth, it seems much longer. As if time, has slowed down some. And I have had extended stretches of moments, and the mental energy, to think about things on a deeper level.

Motherhood messes with your sense of time. When I look back on the almost 21 years I’ve been a parent, there are certain hours that are embedded deeply in my memory – those where you could almost literally feel the hands on a clock spinning faster; and t...

Family Weekend: A Chance to See if Your College Kid is Adulting

Yay! Your child jumped through all of the senior year hoops – tests, essays, applications, FAFSA, and college visits – and was admitted to (one of) their dream colleges! And whew, you – parental units – also survived the process. Near summer’s end, you moved them into their housing, wept (or didn’t) when you hugged them goodbye, and then left them to begin their new lives.

Welcome to the next stage of parental anxiety!

Is your new college student successfully adulting?  Or have they experien...

The “Bitter” in the Bittersweetness of Thanksgiving Day

I don’t know what Thanksgiving Day is like for you, but for me, it’s the best one out of the other three hundred and sixty-four. It’s without a doubt, my absolute most favorite day of the year. But for about the last seventeen years, it’s also been the bitter sweetest day for me.

Let me explain.

To me, Thanksgiving is the greatest day of the year, bar none.

I get to run my local five-miler road race with Dave and all our runnerbuddies. Then I get to watch my Marblehead Magicians football tea...