photo: © Sean Pavone | Dreamstime.com
The rooms were full
of noise, and stuff, and music.
of laughter and words.
of clothes and books.
and unmade beds and phone calls.
Now they are empty.
the beds are neat and tidy.
There is no one to mess them up
except for an occasional visit.
The only things in the rooms are
memories, sunlight and dust.
the books are put away.
the phone rarely rings.
The house is quiet…
except for the sound of the two of us.
We are still here.
glad to be together still.
but all is much quieter
As our eyes dim
and our ears work harder to hear.
Our hearts are full.
We are grateful to GOD
for our daughters,
their husbands and
their children.
What a blessing!
God has given us a full life!
Beautiful! What a full life indeed. So much to grateful for!
thanks cam:) glad you stopped by. we were out of town for a few days visiting grandchildren…and children:) now I’m getting ready for a garage sale:(
mine are 41, 39 and35 in the next few months. they have been gone quite awhile. they are officially grown up…and have been for quite awhile. there is no doubt, there have been advantages to the years since they grew up, but to deny that there has been some sadness with the goodbyes wouldn’t be true!
even in these circumstances, when we live further from our families than we would life, when our children grow up and move away…it takes time to adjust to the losses. I’m so glda GOD is understanding of my personal weaknesses in this area:)
My third child turns 20 on Wednesday. Everyone still lives home, one college grad wohrking full time and paying off student loans, two in community college and both headed to university in 2013 (hopefully), the youngest will be graduating our homeschool in June and off to University in the autumn. The house will be emptying bit by bit very soon. I’m enjoying the last year, or months. of a full house. It’s time for everyone to reach for God’s next plan for them, but it’s sad, all the same.
Bittersweet feeling…
absolutely, Mrs. B! our goal is to raise our children to grow up and leave the nest. empty rooms are a sign we did our job:)
Such needed words for me as I fuss daily about the noise and the mess. Thank you so much for reminding me that this is but a short season and I need to embrace it for all of it’s beauty.
kimberly, that is true for all of life. it is especially needed for some of the stages that will come later.
I truly enjoyed your post today. My first born, a daughter, will be married in June. Thankfully her younger sister will be moving into her room. I am not sure I am prepared for empty rooms.
thanks for coming by barbie. i was packing so had to buy a photo…a little more drab than the actual room is. saying “good-bye” has never been my favorite for sure! doesn’t seem to get any easier either.
Oh, Martha, what a tender reminder that this season of messy rooms and unkempt beds will someday change into another season. Every mother of young children needs to read these words today. Simply beautiful.
thanks denise. glad you stopped in. it does help you realize what is important to emphasize, doesn’t it?
yes. that they were once full and alive. Both the blessing and the pain of it all, no? I will squeeze my two littles tonight extra hard tonight because of reading this, thanks!!
thanks for stopping by tara:) yes, enjoy your little ones. you will not believe how fast they grow up. it is unbelievable!
I suspected from your title that this was what you were going to write about. Brought me to tears :). Probably the pregnancy hormones…
dawn, this hasn’t been my favorite season, that’s for sure. 50’s weren’t really all that bad, but the further into the 60’s the harder it has been. seems like there have been way too many “good-byes” and too few “hello’s” that i have been happy about. i have adjusted, but the choices weren’t my favorite ones.
look forward to seeing you all next month…to say nothing of the sweet new little girl:) i enjoyed writing the article, but it touched a place i don’t talk about a whole lot! probably more here than anywhere!
I enjoyed your post so much. Seems like we have a similar situation 🙂
welcome brooke. i enjoyed reading your post. sounds like you are moving away. well, maybe not. maybe you’re just redoing the house. our rooms have been empty for awhile. i am having a big garage sale the end of march. we were gone for 4 yrs. and have been back almost 4 and i still don’t have the garage all cleared out!! i’m trying to empty out some closets AND the garage and as many places as i can! not my favorite job for sure.
Interesting . . . one thing I wrote is not know an “empty home” (yet). I can only imagine that feeling . . . and a good reminder when my life seems TOO full, that this season will come to an end sometime.
Beautifully written
thanks loni. it was helpful to me to hear the perspective of those whose homes were empty (when i was teachable that is) to realize that it was not going to last forever…and that i would miss the noise and craziness of it all some day. unfortunately, none of our children live nearby…with one living in ukraine!