When my parents and I returned home after Shavuos, we found a new bird’s nest on the ledge over our front door that had been built in the few days of our absence. Since we simply couldn’t leave it there, we gently removed it (it was empty) and laid it elsewhere on our property. It was moving to see the neatness and perfection of that round little nest — a true work of art.
You will know already that I’m a fairly regular listener of Gretchen Rubin’s podcast, and one of her pet topics in recent years has been the empty nest, since her children are now out of the house. It seems she’s researching for a book on the topic, which I’m apt to read. One of the issues she has talked about is the phenomenon of boredom or adrift-ness among empty nesters, who are used to feeding, chauffeuring, and otherwise caring for their children, then find themselves with swaths of free time on their hands.
I think it is so interesting because in a certain way I have a similar life to that of an empty nester. In fact, I often think I have more in common with the 70+ crowd than with people my age. Perhaps I’m busier with work than some empty nesters (as a generalization) and less busy with homemaking (for sure), but I also am facing that task of figuring out who I am in the absence of children to raise, and using my time, since it is my own and I have options, in meaningful and worthwhile ways. There is a sense of grief and a sense of possibility.
The obvious difference is that this empty nest is waiting to be filled. And one of the things I can do with my time and resources is build it to be a work of art.
(Photo credit: Sakina Fayyaz/Pexels)
