Goodbye My Sweet Prince and Princesses
The Guy In The Middle, The Family Genius, and Smiley Face have left the castle. As I write this post, they are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on their way to Tokyo and will continue to Manila. They will spend 2 months in the Philippines marinating in Filipino culture, if not the heat, and spending quality time with their cousins. But most importantly, they will be getting away from the house chores and Daddy’s eternal nagging.
My children are growing up faster than I can blink my eyes. Two are already technically adults, one is almost 16 and the two youngest are sprouting like Jack’s beanstalk. While it is definitely exciting to see them come into their own, I cannot help but be sad with the inevitability that eventually they will all leave us.
The Prodigal Son’s penchant for travel adventures is occurring more frequently. The other 3 look forward to their yearly vacation and the youngest well, he’d rather be outside all day than hangout with his old man. With their desire to go out and travel, the trips to the airport have been happening more frequently.
Of course this is what Babe and I want. We want them to travel and explore. We want them to see the world and learn from it. We want them to understand that life happens outside our home, outside our city, and outside our country. We want them to see and compare their lives to the lives of the poeple that they meet in their travels. We want them to realize that while we all have different belief and values, within our core, we are all the same.
I’m truly happy that my children are getting the opportunity to travel early in their lives and I’m glad that they will be able to learn so much. But it’s still very difficult to see them wave goodbye to us as they board the plane.
Yesterday, when Babe and I got home from the airport, the house was empty. The Prodigal Son was still at work and CJ was with my sister-in-law and the other 3 were driving each other crazy in the plane. Babe and I should’ve been excited. In fact with the anticipation of having the house to ourselves, I even commented to The Family Genius before she left that her mother and I can have an alone time together at home and that we can finally walk around the house with our birthday suits. And predictably she said, “Eeeeewwww too much information.” But our empty house didn’t produce the excitement that we anticipated.
Instead of feeling euphoric, we felt like empty nesters. Last night as I tucked CJ to bed and instructed TPS to turn off all the lights, which he didn’t, before he goes to sleep, I felt incomplete. And as I write this post, with CJ already awake and bothering me, I still feel empty and Babe is just lying in bed awake staring at the ceiling. In a couple of days, I will get use to the sound of silence but the empty feeling will prevail until we are complete again.
Wait, I should stop being sappy. I’ll see them in month when the rest of us will join them in the Philippines. But you know what I mean though, right…?
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Enjoy our beautiful country!
