When my kids flew out of the nest, it wasn’t quiet in a sad, movie-scene way.
It was loud — with pride, big moves, college dreams, and military orders.
And then suddenly… it was just different.
I was proud of them beyond words.
And I was also really sad.
I don’t think I was prepared for how much of me had been wrapped up in showing up for them every day. When that season shifted, I found myself floundering a bit — not lost exactly, just untethered.
One day my husband looked at me and asked a simple question:
“What are we going to do now?”
Not in a scary way. Not in a fixer way.
In a what’s next for us way.
We talked about things we loved when we were younger. About arcades. About gaming. About how, back in high school, those places were our happy place. Somewhere along the line, pinball found us again — or maybe we found it.
Pinball didn’t solve everything.
But it gave me something I didn’t realize I was missing.
It gave me my feet.
It gave us a place to go, a rhythm, and eventually a community. People who showed up. People who cheered. People who laughed with me, competed with me, and stood nearby while I remembered who I was outside of “mom.”
That community became my support system and my cheerleaders — and I don’t take that lightly. They didn’t push me or pull me. They simply made space for me to belong again.
And my husband? He’s my number one best friend and cheerleader.
He cheers me on loudly — and then does something even more important.
He steps back.
He lets me find my strength.
He trusts me to be me.
With that kind of support — from my people, from my partner — I found solid ground again. I didn’t even know I was standing on it at the time.
I just knew I wasn’t falling anymore.
I didn’t know then that the next chapter would start with a walk, a coffee, and a thought. I only knew that I had my footing back.
And sometimes, that’s all you need before you can move forward.
I didn’t trip into wellness.
I walked into it — after I learned how to stand again through pinball.
💜 What keeps me moving are the signs I notice along the way.
Still going. 👣🪶