Six Sentence Story: Nest

Photo: Five children look over a fence at the zoo to see the rhinos

Thanks to the miracles of birth and adoption, the children came quickly--five within an eight-year span--and twenty-eight years after the first arrived, the last launched. Those almost-three decades, which simultaneously passed by slowly and all-too-quickly, provided plenty of on-the-job opportunities to develop skills in teaching, nursing, child psychology, culinary arts, taxi-driving . . . in short, parenting. Just like that, it was over--not her role as mother, that would be forever--but the little moments like kissing boo-boos better, snuggling during bedtime stories, listening to budding musicians practice their instruments, and visiting parks each week during the summers. As wonderful as those moments were, though, and as easy as nostalgia could come, the empty-nest was always the goal: raising children to become independent, confident, happy adults. They are soaring on their own. The parents can relax a bit and fly, too.
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This week's prompt for the Six Sentence Story is nest. I feel like my story needs a disclaimer: some things are beyond anyone's control, situations are different, and this story gives just a tiny slice of my experience.

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It's autumn time, one of my favorite times of year. I just couldn't leave this weekend as a one-post weekend.

Ten Things of Thankful: Last Two Weeks

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from an overlook I apologize for not commenting on your blog posts this past week; John and I took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, leaving behind our computers and, to a large extent, cell phone service. We escaped the outside world and just spent time in nature. Though we have friends near Yellowstone (who we love to visit) we made this trip just about us, so please forgive us if we were nearby and didn't stop by. The crowds were minimal (though we did mask up whenever we passed someone on the trails) and we spent our days hiking, taking photos, and watching geysers erupt. Today, we are back home and back to work, and, in the case of my computer, back to old shenanigans like not letting me import my photos. (I was able to add the above photo by using blogger on my phone, but that isn't my preferred method.) I want to write about Yellowstone and have photos I want to share, but will leave that for another

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Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this

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