I’m sitting here in the early morning, quietly pondering the upcoming week. My youngest is off to Interlochen, a boarding school for the arts, in Michigan. Last night, my adult kids drove in from college to send her off. My little family was briefly all-together for the last time until summer….I am days away from an empty nest.
My mind has taken me through the moments of my kids’ childhood….the daily “art bombs” that went off, the endless hours of imaginative play, the stories and the carefree, unscheduled childhood moments fill my heart. Every family is different, and I am forever grateful for my three beautiful gifts God has graciously given to us.
It seems like just yesterday that my children were young. Thoughts of picnics in our gardens, chasing butterflies, eating compost and birdseed, planting flowers and digging up heirloom bulbs with my young ones in tow are literally flooding my mind….
“Mom! Keep driving!! You don’t even have a shovel!!!!”
There was the time I saw the Oxblood Lilies alongside the highway that had been recently bulldozed. The bulbs, still covered in chunks of cement and rubble, were lifted to safety by my young daughters’ bare hands.
There was the time I had three sleeping babies in the car as I dug in the rain, before the old lot became a parking lot.
There was the almost rattlesnake bite while pulling up a Crinum, while my youngest was singing in the background….not help at all whatsoever.
There was the time…..
Well, there are actually so many times. So many wonderful times and so many memories.
I’m beginning to feel my empty nest is actually not so empty.
In a few days, I am driving my youngest up to Michigan to live her dream. Our home will be empty but our hearts are full. Regardless of the unique circumstances of your own nest, I hope you are able to fill it full with the moments if life…..past, present and future. May your nest be full and your sorrows be few.
Happy Garening, my friends!