Empty Nest – New Beginnings

 

Taking a dive into the unknown….

I have two lovely sons and feel lucky and proud to have them in my life. My youngest son has shared our home for 26 years and for the last two years, his beautiful girlfriend has also lived with us too. Last weekend however, they moved on – their new journey living together as a couple, in their own home has started, leaving us with our empty nest for the first time in 31 years!

I should be feeling the ’empty nest syndrome’ shouldn’t I? A sense of sadness that both our sons have left us and my husband and I are left alone to face life together just the two of us….

The truth is somewhat different though – I DON’T FEEL SAD!!! Am I a bad mum?

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing all my family – my sons, their beautiful partners and my gorgeous granddaughters. I love it when they pop round for a visit or when I have my granddaughters for sleepovers (most weekends – I’m lucky!) and I enjoy cooking family dinners at weekends when they turn up unexpectedly (or invited even..) however, I’m also looking forward to spending precious time alone with my husband – revelling in the space and freedom to do what we want, when we want, now that we have the house to ourselves. As someone said to me recently: “You can walk round the house naked now!” (sorry kids..)

It’s a new chapter in our lives together as husband and wife – two lovers returning to the freedom of our early days together, with the added bonus of having much wiser heads! It feels like we’re starting a new and exciting adventure….

It got me thinking about the natural order of life.

My sister’s dog Dixie had puppies recently – very cute..

    

Dixie was a lovely mum to her little puppies – she nurtured them well for the first few weeks of their lives and my sister was dreading the day when the puppies would have to leave and go to their new homes.

After the first few weeks though, Dixie was clearly getting fed up of her babies and having taught them some important lessons it became clear, that by the time they had reached 10 weeks old, that she was ready for them to move on. Some of the puppies went to other members of our family and they love to see each other when they return for a visit, but they are all happy to return to their new homes, for the love and affection given to them by their new families.

So there we have it – it’s nature’s way…. maybe I’m not such a bad mum after all?

We love our children, we look after them, nurture them and hopefully teach them some important lessons along the way and then we become ready to let them go. We enjoy watching them travel their own journey but at a slight distance. We’re still around to support them when they need it and our children provide us with that love and support that we also need too now (particularly when the technology in our house needs some attention!).

Nature is amazing when we go with its flow, so maybe our own lives flow better, when we stop fighting nature’s power which has worked so well for thousands of years.

(picture courtesy of Facebook – unknown..)

We can relax, in the knowledge that our children have their own paths to follow, their own lessons to learn and while our paths still cross frequently, we are able to start a new chapter in our relationship and take the first step along a new pathway. I think we’re going to enjoy the ride! “Yee Haa!”