“Parenting: the days are long but the years are short.” – Anonymous
The school year is wrapping up for our youngest two children, the two who are still at home. My youngest son graduates from high school next week. We are all ready for summer. We are weary. The crescendo, that ends every school year, is in full force, with awards ceremonies, and with AP and final exams. Our renovation project is finally near close. I can hear my body, making louder what it has been whispering to me the last week or so, “Time to rest. We need rest. Rest.”
I have been living the natural rhythm of parenting and the constant cycles that go with raising children for the last 23 years. I wonder if my body will naturally stay with this cycle for a while to come, even when our last little birdie spreads her wings and flies away, in just a few short years. I wonder what part of you figures it out first, that you now have an empty nest and a new cycle of life; that your cadence will shift? Is it your mind or your body or is it your spirit?
“The success of love is in the loving – it is not the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done. ” – Mother Teresa
Hi, Kelly — I’m the child of two school teachers, so part of me still (at 60) thinks of September as the “New Year”. I married and had my daughter late in life; there were a couple of decades there when I worked as a Records Manager that got me on a January-to-December year, but I still occasionally find myself thinking of, for example, Sept 2018 – June 2019 when someone says “year of 2019”. So, yes, I think you’ll retain the school year cycle for quite awhile after your nest is empty.
Incidentally, one of your answers in Quora brought me here. Thanks for including the link. I enjoy your writing.
Hi Cecille, thank you for reading my stuff at multiple sources! It means so much to feel “heard.” I thought that the “cycle” would probably last longer than the kids being here. Thanks for validating me!