Barbara and Nick Cafero at the Brien McMahon graduation
Photo credit: Courtesy of Barbara Cafero

For Barbara Cafero, Wednesday will be the first time in almost 20 years that she will not be sending one of her three children to school in Norwalk. Last week, Barbara dropped off her youngest son, Nick who graduated from Brien McMahon in June, to college at the University of Virginia. "It seems like just yesterday that he was so afraid of going to kindergarten," she says.

This past weekend, Claire Schoen, of Norwalk, also dropped off her youngest daughter Ellie Werner at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "A whole new part of my life is starting, " she says. Ellie graduated from St. Luke's, a private school in New Canaan, in June.

Barbara and Claire are becoming "empty-nesters", parents whose children have flown the coop. "It's very exciting, but bittersweet," says Barbara who has two older children. "It was a lot more difficult this time. Everything we've done for so long revolved around the schools—sports and band competitions. Now all of a sudden we have to rethink what we do, how we spend our time." The whole family drove down to Virginia to drop off Nick, including sister Jacqueline, a UVA alumna, who flew home from London where she works for the occasion. Nick's father is State Senate Minority Leader Larry Cafero.

"We are looking forward to this phase," says Barbara. "Larry and I can do things together, things we choose to do. We plan to socialize more as a couple and reconnect with friends.

Claire agrees, "It'll be good to not be tied to school vacations. We can plan our vacations any time we want." In fact, Claire and her husband are making a stop in Chicago for a few days after dropping Ellie off to visit old college friends.

Claire went back to work full-time for an online publishing and marketing company four years ago after many years of freelancing while raising her children. "This job is going to help me get through." Barbara, a major account manager for Xerox, has been working outside the house full time since her kids were young, "I'm glad I have something else to focus on." Claire also plans to step up her rowing. "I have a good social network because of rowing. Now I can hang out at the boat house longer." And of course, she won't be entirely alone at home. "I plan to talk to the dog a lot."