OUT OF THE NEST

I recently passed a young mother, in a parking lot, who was carrying a brand new baby. One little girl was hanging on to the mother's shirt and the other little girl was hanging on to the mother's pant leg. Then, trailing behind the group was the oldest brother, who was also very young. I saw that the brother was crying. He all of sudden yelled, “I hate babies!” I felt badly for him and thought about how each child has to, inevitably, be “kicked out of the nest.” Whenever a new child was introduced into our home, along with the excitement and celebration, there came an accompanying sadness in the one who was no longer on Mom's lap and heartbreak for the mother who knew her "young must learn to fly." One day I woke up and looked around me. Our newborn child was at my side - another had crawled in during the night and was by my other side - and then I noticed there was another child above my head and another at my feet. The last child just climbed on top of my me. I imagine I was tired enough to not have noticed what had been happening. At that moment no one was out of the nest. I wish it could always be that way.