Nests Empty and Full

It's been a busy season for all things "nest". Though our nest technically emptied several years back, our older son Dylan graduated from college just a couple of weeks ago and after a brief and cherished stint at home, moved to Syracuse to start his first software engineering job. Just prior to that, I hung planters on the porch and within a day, a robin had gotten busy building her nest in the planter nearest the door. (If you look closely you can see her in the second photo). Given how much traffic there is between my husband and me, and the dozens of people filing by to go to yoga in the barn, it's kind of a surprising choice of homestead location. Each morning I come out to water and explain to her gently that she chose to live there and build her nest, but I still need to water, and she stares me down with one beady eye until I get too close, at which point she rises in a rush of flight and alights to the tree across the driveway where she berates me loudly as I water. I'm careful—she has 4 perfect blue eggs to protect. I understand her distress and anger, but I also think she came back here again this year to do pretty much what she did last year, because, well, no cats. relative shelter. And my assaults with the watering can do no harm. I like to think we have an arrangement.So, graduating one son, hosting nest building for one mama robin, and somewhere in there, our younger son came home for a few days to spend time with his brother. He's in his third year at a professional circus school up in Canada and tends to travel with an entourage, so he brought 4 friends with him. The top photo is my son Liam basing his girlfriend and hand-to-hand partner, Ripley. The weekend itself was a dazzling and dizzying impromptu circus of cooking, and brother bonding, and circus on the green (and in the yard and in the barn and in the living room) and endless rounds of Settlers of Catan and Bananagrams when it was raining. HIkes, biking, even swimming in the river. The pace of life, when our nest fills again in these temporary, dynamic bursts, is so much faster than when they are gone. I love having them here and welcome the din and the mess and the joy and the nonstop play. What is different this time around is that when they leave, I feel pretty peaceful about it. I love our home and the serenity that I feel here. I love being able to claim some space to practice yoga and plan classes. I'm a very early riser, so when there is not a lot of late night activity, I can go to bed at 9:30 and when I get up at 5:30 I don't have to tiptoe around.So it goes. We all build, re-build, and occasionally dismantle our little nests. Sometimes it's a precious nest of one. Or two. Sometimes it's a crowd. Sometimes the "nest" is a yoga mat in the early morning May light, with a cup of tea and an open window to let in the cool morning air. May your own nest be full, and empty, and loud, and quiet, and may it bring you peace and joy.—Leslie