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Candace Cameron Bure talks good, bad and 'sad' part of empty-nest years

They grow up so fast, and now the star is contemplating a not-so-full house.

On "Fuller House," Candace Cameron Bure plays a mom to three kids who span preschool to high school, but in real life, the actress is rapidly approaching the empty-nest years.

And as she confessed during a Tuesday visit to TODAY, that reality isn't easy to accept.

She and her husband, Valeri Bure, have three kids together — daughter Natasha, 20, and sons Lev, 18, and Maksim, 16 — and even the youngest will be on his way to college soon.

"It's crazy to me that, within a year or two, we will not have children at home anymore," she told Hoda Kotb and guest co-host Maria Shriver. "And I feel like no one talks about that. It just makes me so sad to think about it."

But Shriver had a different take on the empty-nest talk.

"I'm an empty-nester, but I say don't use that word," she urged. "Because it makes it sound like you feel like your home is empty, but you're still there. It's still a full house."

Ahem — no pun intended.

But for Bure, it only seems bad when she thinks about the kids leaving her. It seems so much better when she focuses on how well she and her partner have prepared them to leave.

"I've loved the teenage years with my kids so much," she explained. "I really enjoy them, because I love listening to them as young adults and people, and to hear their thoughts and opinions and have in-depth conversations with them about worldly things. ... I do have such peace about sending them off. I feel like, 'Hey, I think we've done a pretty good job. And I love that you guys get to go out and live and do your thing and make a mark on the world.'"

So whether she has a full house or an empty nest, ultimately, she's just happy to have the chance to watch them fly off on their own one day.