Holding On, Letting Go, and Growing Anyway

This past month my husband and I began the experience of empty nesters. 

It brought up thoughts of; did I do enough?  Why didn’t we do more as a family?  How did our babies grow up so fast when some nights felt so long and hard?  Did we teach them all they need to know to be prepared for all the things this crazy world is?

I was thinking all these stages of life while on one of my morning walks when I came across an empty acorn cup. It brought up all the feelings and had me smile at its resemblance of my life in this moment.  This little cup once had an acorn inside it growing on a tree and now here it was, lying on the ground empty.  It had no judgements about being empty or being separated from the mother tree. 

The tree that nurtured and supported it all year long no longer held it tightly onto its branch.  This was just the natural process that is required for the acorn to grow into a strong oak tree of its own.

Continuing my walk, I came across a couple of acorns laying on the ground.  The one acorn still had its cup while the other did not. Once again, I smiled at the irony.  These two acorns were like our children, different in size and shape but still the same.  Separated from their tree but still nearby.  Uncertain of the journey but trusting the process as it comes.

Not only were these two little acorns speaking to my heart of my life right now, but the entire oak tree was too!

I marveled at how this one acorn cup crossing my path began the series of thoughts resembling my life and to make things even more significant, oak trees have been very near and dear to me my whole life. 

I grew up with 3 large oak trees on my family farm.  My grandfather planted them way before my time.  My cousins and I would climb and play in these mighty oaks for hours. The unique leaf design made me feel extra special at school when we were asked to collect leaves for an art project.  I was the only student who had oak leaves! The beautiful Oaks represent strength, courage and patience.  It takes a long time for them to grow but once they do, they are magnificent.  A few years back one of the three oaks stopped budding leaves, and we knew its life was complete.  It was so hard for me to admit that it had died, and it was time to let it go.

I plan to have something created from this tree so I will always have a piece of it to remind me home and the fun we had around the tree.

I have since planted my own oak tree at the farm to one day stand as tall as the ones my grandfather planted.  

I hope they will remind the next generations of the strength, courage and patience these trees hold, just as they do for me.

“Life is a circle.  The end of one journey is the beginning of the next.”