Lisa Guzman didn't come to the empty nest the usual way. She came through foster care, homelessness at 17, building a life from scratch, 25 years as a wife and mother, and then losing her husband and her last kid leaving home within a year of each other. When the roles are gone, who are you? Lisa had to find out. This is that conversation. Rick and Clancy talk with Lisa about what it actually feels like to redefine yourself after decades of being everyone else's. They get into trust, datin...

Graduation week has a way of swallowing you whole if you let it. Rick and Clancy have been through it and they're headed into it again. The logistics are real. Multiple ceremonies, ticket limits, restaurant reservations, parking, accessibility for grandparents. Get that handled early and you can actually be there when your kid walks across the stage. Because what can get lost in the chaos... your graduate is saying goodbye to four years of their life. They need space for that, even when yo...

Rick and Clancy listen to a lot of podcasts. In this episode they run through their current favorites, from Bravo recaps to business professors to flight attendants spilling what they actually think about passengers. And they get into why people listen to podcasts in the first place. Convenience. Escapism. The strange intimacy of a voice in your ear for hundreds of hours. And maybe something specific to this stage of life, when the music taste is largely set and the discovery itch needs so...

Some Mondays just arrive with a layer of meh. No obvious reason. This is what Rick and Clancy did about it. They get into why stuck feels different in the empty nest, why wallowing feels strangely satisfying even when it doesn't feel good, and why the empty nest version of a low day can feel louder than it should. They also walk through what actually moved them out of it... recognizing self-imposed pressure, saying the real thing to your person, finding something specific to be grateful fo...

Teagan's 21st birthday trip to Tucson turned into something neither of us expected. A wheelchair basketball national championship. Online friends who flew in from California. A signed book. It was a weekend that kept handing us things we didn't know to look for. That's the thread running through this episode. Not just Teagan. Tanner too. The music he's pulled back into our orbit, the video game symphonies, the EDM nights. Our kids keep opening doors we would have walked right past. We also...

Not every empty nest looks the same. In this guest episode, Shara and Aaron Goswick share their story of building a marriage that began right after high school, raising their family young, and navigating a version of empty nest life that still includes supporting an adult son at home. They also share why weekly date night has remained a non-negotiable part of their marriage, how they approach family boundaries as grandparents, and how Shara’s Life Stories Podcast grew from a simple idea in...

A blown tire turns into a bigger question… what do you actually owe your kids once they’re out of the house but still in school? Rick and Clancy find themselves on opposite sides of the same situation. One sees it as part of growing up… “that’s what savings is for.” The other sees it as simple… he’s still a student… you help. What follows isn’t a debate about money. It’s a look at the assumptions underneath the decision. They work through where their lines actually are… how tho...

March is full in a different way when you’re in the empty nest. Rick and Clancy talk about birthdays that don’t carry the same weight, even while they still show up for their kids in bigger ways. That shift leads into a wider conversation about how life looks now... less centered on events, more on everyday rhythms. They also revisit spring break and travel... what they did then versus what they’re comfortable with now as parents of young adults. A recent trip to Austin brings that i...

Rick and Clancy talk about a different side of the sandwich generation.Not caregiving… life events.More funerals connected to parents and their friends.More celebrations connected to adult children.The conversation started after Clancy arrived at happy hour straight from a funeral for one of her mom’s close friends. It sparked a discussion about how empty nesters often find themselves moving between those two worlds.One part of life is filled with weddings, trips, and milestones with the younger...

At 49, Tracy Smith booked a trip to Ireland with friends. Then she changed the flight. Then she changed it again. What began as a group vacation slowly turned into arriving in Iceland alone… with no clear plan home. In this episode, Tracy talks about how travel became the vehicle for reclaiming parts of herself she had set aside during years of parenting and managing daily life. The shifts were not dramatic. They started small. Taking a new job. Going to dinner instead of cooking. Letting her...

The Olympics just wrapped… so Rick and Clancy stepped back into their own arena. Two years ago, they created the “Empty Nest Olympics” and ranked themselves in five events. This week, they revisit the same categories and ask: did we improve… or are we still stretching before the race? They talk through friendship momentum, hobbies that still haven’t happened, whether group dinners count as date nights, how working together has sharpened their communication, and why dreaming about the futur...

When your kids leave home, the communication changes. Sometimes it slows gradually. Sometimes it feels abrupt. In this episode, Rick and Clancy talk about what staying connected really looks like once your kids are living in a different rhythm.They share their experience navigating daily calls during a tough freshman year, the shift that often happens by spring semester, different communication styles between siblings, time zone mishaps, “proof of life” texts, and the balance between asking q...

Valentine’s Day shows up every year with expectations attached. Reservations. Prix fixe menus. Cards that say more about obligation than affection.In this Greatest Hits episode of The Loud Quiet, Rick and Clancy talk honestly about why they stopped treating Valentine’s Day like a scripted performance and how their relationship evolved once they did.From early dating years and shared “love songs” to parenting seasons that reshaped priorities, this episode walks through what Valentine’s Day has lo...

Intimacy changes over time… especially when the house gets quieter. What once felt automatic often needs more intention, more conversation, and sometimes a better framework.Just in time for Valentine's Day, in this guest episode, we sit down with couples counseling team Dr. Amy and Roy Clark to talk about The Four Intimacies and why strong relationships are built on more than just physical connection. We get practical about how couples actually talk to each other, why emotional closeness matters...

We spent several days at home during an ice storm in North Texas. Sweats instead of real clothes. Garage workouts because the gym was out. Too much food because that’s what people do when they’re stuck. We talk through how our routines unraveled, what we did to fill the time, and how empty nest life changes the feel of being snowed in. We also get into the small stuff… playing games we haven’t touched in years, watching different shows in different rooms without it being a “thing,” a...

Spring semester drop-offs don’t get the same attention as fall move-in… but for a lot of parents, they’re tougher than they expect. The house was full again. The routines came back. And then, just like that, they left. In this episode, we talk honestly about why the sadness shows up again when college kids head back after the holidays. Not for the first time… and not because anything is wrong. We talk about what’s different about winter break versus summer, how short visits mess with your emo...

The holidays are over, the fridge is still full of leftovers, and the routine hasn’t quite found its way home yet.In this episode, Rick and Clancy talk about what happens between Thanksgiving and “whenever we finally pull it together.” The extra food. The extra drinks. The social calendar that never lets up. And the moment, especially in your 50s, when your body makes it very clear that it noticed. They talk through why the holiday season turns into a free-for-all, how restriction can backfire, ...

Your young adult’s path may look messy, stalled, or off-script… and that doesn’t mean something is wrong.In this guest episode, we’re joined by Joanna Lilley, a therapeutic consultant who works with young adults and their parents during the often complicated transition into adulthood. Joanna helps families navigate college decisions, mental health challenges, academic setbacks, and those moments when forward motion feels unclear.We talk about the difference between being college capable and coll...

That weird stretch between Christmas and New Year’s… when no one knows what day it is, the snacks never stop, and you start thinking about what just happened and what might be coming next. In this New Year’s Day episode, we look back on 2025 and talk about what surprised us most… how this podcast grew way beyond what we expected, how the community took on a life of its own, and how the empty nest feels different than it did a year ago. We also talk about what’s ahead in 2026… including the...

We’re releasing this episode on Christmas Day, and it felt like the right time to bring this one back.This is a Greatest Hits re-release of Episode 20, originally recorded after our very first holiday season as empty nesters… when both kids came home from college and the house went from quiet to very full, very fast. It was the first time we experienced that swing back to shared meals, full schedules, late nights, and just being the four of us again.We talk through what surprised us, what we lov...

When the kids are grown and the house is quieter, the way couples talk to each other starts to matter in new ways. Some patterns get easier. Others get harder to ignore. In this episode of The Loud Quiet, we’re joined by marriage counselor and author Raffi Bilek for a practical, honest conversation about communication, conflict, and what actually helps couples stay connected during the empty nest years. We talk about why avoiding conflict doesn’t equal good communication, why solving the prob...