EMPTY NEST

With her youngest child now in college…beginning her own life quest…
Ali, our daughter…(as Deborah and I and so many parents before)
is left with an empty nest.

We spend years keeping our children close 
giving them someone whom they can rely on
and then one day we look around 
and just like that…
they’re gone.

And we’re faced with the paradox of parenting…
that pulls at our heartstrings:
How we’ve nurtured our children’s roots…
while helping to develop their wings.

Hoping those roots of love we’ve nurtured…
and helped to beautify…
will keep us all connected…no matter where they fly.

And though there’s a twinge of sadness as our children soar…
we also feel blessed
knowing those wings we helped create 
will bring them back into our nest.

I hope Ali…when she looks at their unoccupied rooms 
beyond her tears will also find a smile
knowing her nest will never completely empty…
just vacant for a while.

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