"Mom" is not my real name...is it?

Contact: Tracy McCarter, The B & B Media Group, 800-927-0517 ext 109, tmccarter@tbbmedia.com

DALLAS, March 10 /Christian Newswire/ -- The empty nest season is much like JELLO--hard to grab hold of and constantly changing shape. Whether she stayed at home with her kids or held a demanding corporate job, every mother will feel the effects of her last child leaving the nest. Even the most confident of women often feel lost and left behind. In the words of Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen, "Tell me at your peril that the flight of my kids into successful adulthood is hugely liberating...that my husband and I will see the world, that I can throw myself into my job. My world is in this house, and I already had a great job into which I'd thrown myself for two decades. No, not the writing job--the motherhood job. I was good at it...and because I was, I've now been demoted to part-time work. Soon I will attain emeriti status. This stinks."

The transition to the empty nest, like every other milestone in a woman's life, is best when shared with a good girlfriend who is a few steps ahead of you on the journey but close enough to shine the light back in your direction. In their new book, Barbara and Susan's Guide to the Empty Nest, authors Barbara Rainey and Susan Yates, mothers of six and five, respectively, share the joys and challenges they have experienced as their children have grown and taken flight.

Barbara and Susan highlight the fun of rediscovering spontaneity in marriage, the value of spending time with girlfriends, and the excitement of finding vision and purpose. They also address the disappointments and hardships that sometimes accompany the empty nest: caring for aging parents, dealing with menopause, surviving a failed marriage, and grieving over the child who has gone astray.

Because they have included so many anecdotes from their own families and personal stories of other women, the book reads like a conversation with an old friend. Each chapter includes questions to consider, resources to assist, and practical steps that will help readers process the transition in their lives. Though the onset of the empty nest brings mixed emotions, it is a time for celebration, a time for a woman to reconnect with her spouse, her friends, and herself.

www.familylife.com/emptynest