After having been gone for seven months, it is good to have our daughter home again. When she left for university two years ago, the three of us pottered around attempting to navigate a course correction, modifying “the four musketeers” into a more daily, traditional version of three. We mourned the loss of her presence, compensated, made adjustments, talked on the phone, forged a new path. Now that she’s back on back on board, I am reminded of the gap that occurs in relational metaphysics when one of us is away and that, in the following years, the process of releasing our children will begin again. And again. And again.

I have several friends who are being launched into their own “empty nest” journey this year. Since I am only a year away from this rite of passage, I am keenly aware that I stand at the brink of some new exposure to the elements of change within: my role, my place, my future, my self. And, without: our roles, our place, our future, our selves. Whether or not I am up for it, a new country will need to be explored. As with any extended voyage, I tend to get busy. There is packing to do in the form of memories as well as boxes. Plans and dates to finalize. Future visits to consider. Travel arrangements to be made. The opiate of busyness being a blissful diversion to engaging the inner process with intention. Who knows what I might find trodding that path? [click to continue…]

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