Is there a good kind of sadness??
My brother John, sister in law Jocelyn, niece Nicole and nephew Ben just left after a week of fun and activity. It was a great time. Train rides, lots of food I had fun cooking, adventures on the prairies, a rodeo and even replacing our back door and working on the man cave with some great timbers John and I bought from a sawmill. Mike, Jeanette and Rachael even joined in!! Man! A busy week, but full of laughter and memories. The kids had a great time playing. John and I laughed ourselves silly as we tore a large hole in the house, and put up some very manly timbers.
They just pulled out, back off on their long way home. People crying and it feels like half of the crew just left leaving a very large vacuum. We're all at loose ends now: no one sure what to do, lots clean up to do, projects to get too and deathly quiet. Is this what parents go through all the time with an empty nest? How on earth is this supposed to be good?
It really sucks, that they had to go. But parties have to come to an end.
Maybe feeling really sad helps you to realize how great it all was. It must be selfish, somehow, because there is no reason to feel bad. I had a years worth of fun, my major 'on vaccation' reno goals have already been met and exceeded, and I even have time left over to start moping up details that are left over. A great vacation, already. Let's face it, to keep that up for another week would probably leave me in the hospital from either exhaustion, some other kind of poisoning or crushed by having a rough sawn timber landing on me as I feel off a ladder laughing too hard.
No, this kind of sadness from deep inside points to how great community can be as people choose to care for each other, and be cared about. There is a good bit of risk of the unknown mixed in there too as people have to figure out how we're going to get along, which could have gone bad. We're family after all! But there wasn't anything bad, and now a deep hole which makes a guy realize just how huge a good time can really be.
Life and community is great. Although the sadness stings, and will for a while, it feels really sweet. And that's the kinds of sweetness in life that money can't buy.
