Empty nesters

All summer I have watched a couple of birds in the tree in my back yard. In the spring I noticed them working hard to build a nest and taking turns watching guard over their new home. Soon I heard tiny peeps and realized that there were baby birds in the nest. I watched those parents take good care of those babies as they searched and brought worms for them to eat. I'm not sure how it happened but one day I went out to find the baby birds on the ground with the mom and pop surrounding them. Their protective squaks told the babies to run for cover in the weeds. Their efforts to teach them to fly must've paid off because now the birds are gone and the empty nest sits quietly in the tree, waiting for them to someday return. I don't know where they went but I'm sure that they have spread their wings and are off exploring the world.


Our babies have all grown and have spread their wings and are off exploring their own little corners of the world. It's not easy to let them go but it is what we spent years training them to do. It's good even though our nest is very quiet. Now it's time for us to move into the next season of our lives. But we will take care of the nest and hope that our babies will fly in for a visit once in awhile and tell us about their adventures. . . because this will always be home.