a road less traveled

Changes swirl all around me.
Changes in work and life. My body feels older.
Someone even changed the set-up on Blogger,
where I write these posts.
Oh, bother.

I was back in the yard again today, raking leaves,

weeding, and spotting signs of spring.

Like this robin's nest on our electric box.

Mama robin is most annoyed with me,
though I didn't touch, just raised my phone high enough for a photo.

It's safe to say that when life presses in,

I find solace out in my yard.
It's a good place to
'wrestle with things before God,"
as Oswald Chambers said.

And besides, digging in the dirt is very therapeutic.

In one month, our last child will be a college graduate.

Cause for celebration!

Yet I have a "what's next?" feeling creeping in.

No more spring and Christmas breaks.

Or gathering of The Piles of college stuff in August.
Or finding space for it in May.

Or loading up the mini-van.

Or wondering if no phone calls is a good thing, or bad.

Or getting to meet their college friends.

Or, and maybe this is the crux of it,

no more sense that we have CHILDREN-children, rather than young adult offspring.

As much as I wanted them to grow up when they were young,
now they have and I have a road of my own making.

We've worked ourselves out of our jobs as parents, I suppose.

I know, I know. That's the idea!

As each of the three boys graduated from college, there was

always one or two or three more behind who needed us.

But (and see Tuesday's post) this is really and truly the end of one season of life.

Call me sappy,
but I'm not sure how to travel this new road.