After a year of hearing a continuous loop of “you’ll never look back” and “you’ll love it”, I still have a hard time recognizing the “benefits’” of my newly empty nest. I’m still looking back, and I don’t love it yet. Rather than joy for long-awaited freedom, what I’ve felt most is loss – the loss of four children, born close in age, and gone – it seemed – all at once. I loved being a mom; I didn’t want to be a free bird.
But “free” I am, and I’m now well into my second year of it. That is, until 2 weeks ago when COVID-19 brought three of my children home to (relative) safety.