General News
31 March, 2025
Cutting back and challenging myself
So, what was all that ridiculous overly romanticised memorialising about a dead tree in my garden last week about anyway?
Even I didn’t know at the time – it just seemed significant, and it moved me.
On reflection, it only took a moment for me to recognise that although grieving the loss of a magnificent tropical palm tree that had housed many families of animals, my husband and I had farewelled it on our first child free weekend in 23 years.
Yep, I put two and two together and came up with three: three empty bedrooms upstairs.
That towering palm had been sentinel over my busy family life for a decade.
finishing off the raising of my three daughters.
nesters ourselves.
For us to have finished off a tree which had stopped producing, on our first weekend as empty nesters, seemed a bit too close to home.
Should we be finished off too, now that our babies have flown from home?
I have been so excited about finally having some time to myself that of course the whole thing was bound to hit me like a tonne of bricks at some point.
Don’t worry, it’s okay.
I have survived two empty nester weekends so far and I’m still smiling.
Actually, my garden looks amazing. I’ve been up the ladder trimming vines, on the mower clipping grass and pruning anything I walk past, but I haven’t cut ties with my girls – there are still plenty of telephone calls and bank transfers.
I’m not cutting lunches or cutting tracks to party pick-ups, but I am cutting back on the amount of cooking, cleaning and laundry – and of course – cutting down that busy tree.
With three less people in the house who I have to prioritise over myself, what on earth will I do with all that time?
I’ll probably write a book.
I’ve definitely still got plenty of projects on the go, alongside being the chaplain at Horsham College.
On our second empty nester weekend we ticked so many jobs off our ‘To do’ lists that we found ourselves in desperate need of something novel – so Kym changed his shirt and I painted on my eyebrows and we hit the town for cocktails like a couple of kids.
After a mini-pub crawl sampling everyone’s wares, we were home in front of the telly by 9pm to catch the end of a great movie - about 30 years old - right in the pocket for us.
This is a super exciting time for us, but yes, it is kind of strange and scary too.
improvement.
I like a challenge.