Piper's husband, Jeff, grabbed an actual empty nest. She found an old chalkboard and wrote "empty Nest August 2018." A friend snapped their picture, which was later posted to Facebook.
"Twenty eyears ago we didn’t have gender reveal parties, portraits in beautiful fields with baby shoes to announce a pregnancy," Piper wrote. "Nor did we have baby photos on a blanket with a circle around a number showing how old they were. We drove our babies to Sears or Olan Mills to get their photo!!!!! So in honor of our next chapter ... here you go."
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A friend convinced her to make the post available to the public, leading to more than 173,000 reactions on Facebook.
"It was just like a last-minute thing," Piper said in an interview with USA TODAY.
The post took off because the idea of living in an empty nest is "very relatable" to a lot of parents, Piper said.
The Springboro, Ohio, couple married nearly 25 years ago and have a daughter studying abroad. Piper said she and her husband are excited to start traveling now that their kids are off to school. The post helped Piper reflect on how rewarding it felt to send two kids to college, she said.
"It’s one of those things that should be celebrated," Piper said.
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