Empty Nest Moments

                

     This week’s post was inspired by my son’s move to the West coast where he will start a new job.  Henry and I are excited and proud, but also sad.  It’s the end of an era, and the beginning of the rest of our lives. I’m sure there are many parents out there whose children grew up and moved far away.  But when it’s YOUR baby, well, I guess you know (or can imagine) how we feel.  This poem/post is for all the loving parents who have anxiously watched their sons and daughters hatch, grow and finally take flight to start their adult life.

Saying Goodbye

Grow up, go away, chase a dream. . .

Where did that toddler go?

Out of diapers, off to school.

Time pushes forward—an endless stream:

Baseball, basketball, learning the rules.

Winning and losing at life’s early games,

Times flows forward without remorse:

Each year new friends with different names,
Middle school, bar mitzvahs, social cliques,

High school parties, the drugs and alcohol mix.

Homework, texting, and smart phones too.

Time pulses and pushes, an endless stream.

Trying to survive the teenage hullaballoo.

SATS, college apps, waiting to hear. . .

The good news, the bad news, we all must bear.

As kids fly off to colleges large and small,

Time rushes faster, an endless stream.

Home for summer, gone by fall.

Choosing majors, minors, fraternities too.

Sketching an identity: “What should I do?”

Blink and kids graduate, move briefly back home.

But time twists; streams become rivers that run to the sea.

As fireflies flash, our kids start to roam,

Tasting life’s bittersweet buffet out on their own.

Never in our lives have parents felt so alone.

It’s the moment we remember our own long lost dreams.

Before life’s tributaries led us places we never planned to go.

Dear daughters and sons, it’s your turn to grow!

Swim, float and fly—touch the stars in the sky.

We know you’ll succeed, if you have courage to try.