Fly Away. A Song for Leaving Home and Returning
My friend, Meredith wrote on her Facebook wall: "Ever noticed the parallels between baby birds and your kids? They're born, they stay, they leave their crap all over your house and then they fly away. And...mom's miss them anyway."
As I read her post, I thought of this song by the Indigo Girls, "Fly Away." I used to played the song song so I could have one of Ope's ugly cry's when I would be thinking about how everything was changing. (You mean everyone doesn't try to make themselves cry when they've got a lump in their throats?) I don't know that I ever heard the words past the first line because by then, I would be in a full scale melancholic meltdown.
Everyone says they come back which is true in one way. (Which, given the day, can be a welcome or dreaded thought). But on the good days, when you're feeling the love, you realize they don't ever really come back because when they return, you see something in their eyes or the way they hold themselves. It is the recognition that the cord has been cut, they've found (or are finding) their wobbly wings and your nest is too small to contain their becoming of who they're meant to be.
Somewhere in all of that, you too find more of yourself and you just might kind of like what you see. You've come home.
