Sunday 3 June 2018

Empty Nester Countdown




There’ll be no live music, no broken strings.
Every light switched off at bedtime, nothing
left on, no nightly raids, no sudden noise,
no extra-late breakfast weekend mornings.

No sprawl of papers and text books, no trails
of missing laces, no urgent emails
on deadlines and sudden requests to pick up,
no fridge surface cluttered with school details.

How clean will the rooms get?! how organised
the cushions on the sofa, harmonised
dining chairs singing as a perfect choir
flush against the table, neat, civilised.

But a bit more lifeless this life, more sterile
without your hands around it, without your smile.





I have been immersed in post-18 pathway possibilities lately. Less than one year to go before I become mum-of-grown-up-child, yay! n yikes! And a sliver more than a year before the fledgling flies...

In more uniformly cheery news, the sign ups at Write...Edit...Publish... are now open for the June Challenge. Sign up now and post on 20th on Unravelled Yarns...Click the link for details. 











20 comments:

  1. Exciting and scary times. Simultaneously. For you and for those leaving the nest.

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  2. It is kind of a mixed blessing when they leave the roost, innit?

    Btw, I'm still posting old poems, and for obvious reasons, your opinions are always valued.

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    1. Definitely mixed. Be over to yours soon to check out the poems!

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  3. Hari OM
    Something a little foreign to this spinster... but still can appreciate the change this will bring.
    YAM xx

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  4. Lovely poem. Time flies, it is wonderful to see your child become an adult. Such sweet memories of them growing up always live.

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    1. It's flown faster than I could ever have imagined! But as you say, great memories. Thank you.

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  5. It will be a big change but a new chapter in life.

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    Replies
    1. Yup, will need some super skillful writing!

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  6. very wistful poem. But you will be surprised by how much new contact you have - the more grownup questions needing an answer, the long distance package to be sent, and then the prep for that special holiday weekend or homecoming. And you will appreciate your silence and organized chairs - believe me. It's okay!

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    1. Thank you for that perspective! Change is a way of life around here and this one will be a biggie. Organised chairs will take some serious getting used to :)

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  7. Hey Nila, it is indeed an empty nest feeling, but these days with FaceTime, message apps and all that digital hoo ha, you stay connected. But the regular face-to-real-face sojourns like I've just enjoyed with my daughter is still magical.

    Love your ending;

    But a bit more lifeless this life, more sterile
    without your hands around it, without your smile.

    No doubt about that.

    And thank you for taking ove the WEP challenge this month! Awesome!

    Denise

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    1. Hi Denise! Agree about the digital hoo-ha and am really thankful for technology, no mistake. But Face-to-Face is always head and shoulders above everything else :)

      WEP is such an incredible space - feels just wonderful to be there! Thanks so much!

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  8. I guess with six children, I breathed a sigh of relief when the last one left. There was a time before some of them moved on where they figured they were grown and I didn't that made that breath possible.

    They have been coming and going, a staying for awhile or for a holiday and most of us live in the same city so I still see their faces and all.

    Always so much to do that I guess I never really got that straight chair, clean windows thing down anyway.
    Now the grandkids are leaving my children's nests.

    Time does indeed fly away.

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    1. You are so rich to not have to have those straightened chairs and clean windows!

      For two generations most sets of parents and grown children in my family have spent their lives in distant cities. I'm guessing it's not going to be any different in generation three...

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  9. My oldest is just about to leave the nest, and I hear you! The change is going to be nice in some ways, and very hard in others.

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  10. Hi Nila - yes even without the kids I can feel the anticipation of worry and anxiety, yet the freedom for one and the peace for the other ... yet always the desire to be back with those arms close by for yet another hug and some motherly wisdom, or young-adult wisdom ... it'll be fine - another life to add to the ladder of time ... take care and loved the poem ... cheers Hilary

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    1. Yup, things always do fall into the place they should...at least I believe they do..thanks for being here!

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