Joanna Gaines Is Making Us All Cry Talking About Her Emptying Nest

As Joanna Gaines packs her second child off to college this week, she wants everyone to know that the old parenting cliché that it all goes by so fast is starkly, painfully real. The Magnolia mogul shared some of her thoughts about her emptying nest on Instagram, and here we are, tearing up and snuggling our kids a little tighter.

Gaines is sending her 20-year-old son Drake and her 18-year-old daughter Ella off to college this fall, and while she still has Duke (17), Emmy Kay (15), and Crew (7) at home, it’s making her reflect on her growing kids and her evolving role as a mom.

“They told me it would go by quicker than I think. That the days are slow, but the years are fast. And darn it if they were right. This beautiful gift of time has roared past us all just like I was told,” she wrote on Instagram, paired with a picture of one of her kids’ possessions packed up and ready to go.

Drake will be returning to college for his third year, while Ella will be a first-year student.

“This season already feels like one big, breathless surrender,” she continues. “Lord, how do I hold them close while also letting go? Help me to embrace change with a heart filled with hope for the part I know to be truer than the rest—my kids and I may have been made for each other, but I also believe they were made for more. More experiences, more knowledge, more growing than could ever happen within our walls.”

She ended with a message for parents who still have kids at home — if you can read it through your welling eyes.

“To all the parents packing up and moving kids to new places, and to all those with years still to spare: hold them close, hold them well, and let’s all lean on each other when the time comes to hold it together.”

Gaines also posted a sweet video showing the family’s last dinner before her two oldest fly the nest for the academic year. It looked like a really magical evening filled with brick oven pizzas, an immaculately decorated dining room, some pets, a mini motor bike, and a group hug.

And yes, she chose “Landslide” as the soundtrack to the video, just to twist the knife a little bit more.

This is not the first time Gaines has reflected on her kids growing up. In the Fall 2022 issue of Magnolia Journal, she wrote, “Soon, our oldest son, Drake, will be leaving home for college. In the grand scheme of heartbreaking things, this one comes with a lot of gratitude and excitement. But still, my first child is moving away, and our family dynamic will change because of it, and that can feel like a loss of its own.”

Fall always feels like a pretty big parenting milestone as we send our kids on to the next grade — and sometimes on to a new school. As cheesy as it sometimes feels, let’s try to remember to hold on to these moments because truly, truly, it does go fast.