Empty Nest -not again!

My lovely wife was wandering around the house today. We've a few more things to move to our youngest daughter's place and the last of the kids' stuff will be gone. A couple of the rooms are looking pretty empty. She tells me she has a bit of an empty nest feeling going on.

Oh no, I thought, not again. We've been here before, several times. Each time it wasn't very long before the house filled up again. It might be family. It might be friends in need. Before long the place is packed.

I'm not complaining. We're lucky that we can help family and friends. It has even been fun. That doesn't mean there isn't a certain amount of stress. People get used to living their own ways. Having to share space requires compromise.

Then there's the fact my lovely wife and I don't quite live like a lot of other people. We have a TV, but only for watching movies. It's not connected to the main stream media. Sometimes what we do is planned around the solar electric energy generated that day. Right now our only cookstove is wood fired. I've a clothesline set up in the kitchen to dry laundry by the woodstove. We are out in the middle of nowhere. Things are different.

We also live on lake, have a private beach, and plenty of boats to play with. That's certainly a plus in the summer. This time of year it's a good place if you want to ice fish, snowshoe, or ride snowmobiles.

So yes, there's just the two of us here now, but I won't be deceived. Before long someone will be here for a stay -maybe a few days, or even a number of months.

I think it runs in my blood. My dad tells me of how when he was a kid relatives would come for a visit and leave years later. My mom did the same thing once she and dad moved to Florida. One of her friends moved in for over a year. My dad complained a bit about it, but ended up doing the same thing for a neighbor a few years later.

With our history, I don't expect the empty nest feeling to last too long. Maybe we'll have a visit while someone's house is being renovated. Perhaps a good friend will have their house foreclosed. Maybe my dad will come for an extended stay. It will be something.

Besides, if people don't move into those rooms, they'll just fill up with books.

-Sixbears