Patiently Waiting

"Home is where somebody notices when you are no longer there." -Aleksander Hemon

Sirius has always been partial to sleeping on my eldest daughter's bed. 

Don't worry, little guy - she'll be back soon. 

Look, this empty nest business is no joke.

My journey as a mom with offspring living at home has had a long, long run. And even though two daughters flew away in the last six months, there's still one here and another set to fly back soon. So I'm not pretending that I'm a true empty nester.

But even so, I have learned that life in an empty nest is hard.

Hard to set just three plates on the table.
Hard to keep track of only one daughter's comings and goings.
And hard, so hard to walk past bedrooms with empty beds at night.

Before I fall into a complete pity party, though, I often remind myself that at least I understand what's happening.

Our poor pets must be so confused.

Well. Let's be honest. Gracie loves everyone in the family with all her heart. But as long as she can keep me on her radar, she isn't too concerned about where the others have gotten off to.

It's the cats that I am thinking of. When we adopted three abandoned baby brothers in 2010, they quickly bonded with our daughters and fell in love. They have all been inseparable, these kids and kittens, and most especially at night. For all these years, the cats have curled up each night on one cozy bed after another, happy to share their sleeping hours with their favorite warm and cuddly people.

So what are they to do now when their human sisters inexplicably disappear for weeks or months at a time?

Well. They simply curl up on the empty beds and patiently wait for their girls to come home.