Crossroads, By Jen Donier, Sept. 9, 1997

To all mom's who have experinced the empty nest when children grow up and leave home.

I have a sense of not belonging

Displaced and alone, a sense fo longing

My heart feels like a stone.

Noises pass me all around

yet I hear the silent sea

Echoing all around me.

A yellow school bus passes me by

The children inside wave at me

It does not stop and I begin to cry.

I am at the crossroads of life

no longer a mother,

Only a wife.

Which road shall I wander

Where will it lead?

I contempulate and ponder

Which sign post do I heed?

The silence engulfs me

Shouting loud and clear

I hear the rippling echos

Pounding in my ear

No child is calling me to come and help

No coats on chairs or books on table or shelf

Spring is long ago

Summer bloom is past

Indian summer waning

Autumn entering fast

how long will the lonliness

of my empty nest last?

Comments: 8

Jennine D. Dec 25, 2006, 8:17pm EST

Sure is, What a joy when I started having them. :)

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Ruth MacGill Dec 26, 2006, 12:10am EST

It is a sad time but also a time for exciting new beginnings. I love my children but I enjoyed life so much more after they were no a day to day worry and concern. I could start being the real me.

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Kelly T. Dec 26, 2006, 1:07am EST

I relate to your feelings. Since I was a very young mother, I was eager for my kids to grow up and get out on their own...too eager, for sure! The intensity of the empty nest, for me, has grown, increased with time and with the geographical distance between us. My perspective now - thirty-four years after becoming a mohter - is that my children are the best of my life; they are what makes life worthwhile, they are my heros; nothing else that I have accomplished, including master's degrees, career success, a good marriage, means squat next the the incredible joy and love my kids have taught me. Sure, it's a pain in the neck, etc. etc. and still we have those arrrgh moments, but it is only now, as I am so much older, that I know in my heart - and will know when I die - those kids. They were the best, best part of living.

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Maureen Sullivan Stemberg Dec 26, 2006, 6:01pm EST

So very true...one never losses that feeling. You express so well. I,too, am looking forward to being a grandmother. Yet, not too soon my son is a senior in college & then B'school!! Oh how I miss those yellow buses...

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