Mother's Day metaphor

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Just as I was starting to feel the first pangs of sadness because my son isn't home for Mother's Day this year, my husband came running in from the yard, breathless and wide-eyed like a 7-year-old kid: "Come outside! The baby's out of the nest!"

One of our owlets getting ready to fly.

I followed my husband out to the porch and there he was (or, maybe it's a she, but I'm going with male to make the story better) watching us watch him. "And he shall be called Bear the Owl," I proclaimed, invoking the nickname of our son in Brooklyn. It won't be long before this one leaves the nest, too, but that's just how life goes, I guess.  Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. It's an all-consuming, bittersweet love. But, there's nothing like it.