THE EMPTY NESTS NEED NOT BE EMPTY OF LIFE

 

“The beauty of an empty nest is the opportunity

to cultivate a garden of self-growth”

Unknown

I was twenty when I left my home to find better prospects in Bombay. My mom must’ve just crossed forty and dad fifty. Of their five sons, the eldest, Franklin, had already left home, two years earlier, to be a sailor. They still had three more sons at home – Harry, Rony and Vivek. Harry left home to find work in Bombay, soon… In some years, Rony left home to find his new pastures in Kuwait, and so did the last son of my parents – Vivek. Very soon, he, too, came and settled here in Bombay…

By then, Bombay had become Mumbai, and, with our dad gone to God’s home, our own home had become an empty nest…

I remember, how my parents must’ve felt, when each of their sons left their nest. I remember, particularly, how my mother had felt when I was leaving… I was her favourite son. I was traveling from Mangalore to Bombay by a bus (first time). When I boarded the bus in Mangalore, she requested the driver and sat next to me and accompanied me till Udipi… Sitting next to each other, we were, almost, saying nothing… The silence was palpating… She knew, she had loved me with all her heart, and, now, she was letting me leave her nest to find my own wings, to fly in faraway skies. When she had to leave me alone in Udipi, the dam had burst… She was crying like a baby… and, you know, how I must’ve responded to that sight!

“With every child that flies away, we find new feathers to unfurl ourselves,”  says a quote…

Our parents were simple village folks, with very basic schooling. But, to raise their five sons, and, eventually, let them go – so that they could  find their own paths and shine – yes, did our parents require any major academic qualifications? Well, they didn’t have daughters… Imagine the feeling of parents when their daughters leave home! Again, our parents had at least five sons… Imagine the ones like us, who just have one!

So, the reality of an empty-nest feeling has been there ever since the days of Adam and Eve…

Another wise quote reminds us: “The silence of an empty nest is filled with the music of memories.”

Is that so? Do we hear the music?

I think, Life is not meant to be spent in playing our old music… That music has to be played in the background, while our life moves on with its new music.  Yes, in the silence of the empty nests, we need to discover our own ways of nurturing our souls – those new, little passions…

The empty nests need not be empty of Life…

The babies of every living being – be it humans, animals, fishes, birds, butterflies, reptiles, whatever –  are created to grow and leave the nests. With that, God gives the message to every one of us – to nurse our own souls in the quiet corridors of our empty nests…

My simple parents had found their own quiet corridors… You and I have to find ours… and, our babies will find their own, when their time comes…

Love is incomplete till it doesn’t include letting go…

That’s what fills the empty nests with new life!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: Pixabay

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