Musings

My children seldom keep me up at night anymore. There are no more waking for feedings and they seldom have bad dreams. I have also become better at allowing them to do their own thing with minimal interference from me. I have fed, bathed, housed, clothed, comforted, played, counseled, protected and many more words could be added. I think they have turned out alright. They have kind hearts and are considerate of others. They are on their way to supporting themselves. Maybe not the way I envisioned ;).

Last night one of my cats kept waking me up. She had a kitten that we were keeping in my bathroom in a lovely bed. The kitten is about 2 weeks old now. He is black with blue eyes. Just adorable. I liked this arrangement as it protected the kitten and was a quiet place. Well, Odie, did not think so last night. She kept waking me up by meowing and clawing the rug under the door. She kept going in and out and I kept getting up to let her in and out. One time I woke to find her trying to shove her kitten under the door. Of course, I, wanting to maintain what I thought was the best environment for the kitten, put them back in the proper place. Well, Odie persisted. Finally, I just gave up and watched where she was taking the kitten. She made a place under my bed. And that is where they are now. I needed to respect the mother cat and trust that she will do what is right for her kitten.

I was out in the barn just awhile ago. And after the chores are done, I sit and enjoy the rabbit and duck energy. And I started thinking. How I take care of my rabbits is what I used to do for my children. I feed, house, protect, and clean them. I try to counsel but Thor pays me no mind about staying in his cage ;). And rabbits are different from kids in that they do not verbally tell you that they really want captian crunch instead of raisin bran for breakfast.

I wonder if I am afraid of the empty nest syndrome and so am beginning to transfer my need to take care of children to rabbits. Now, on one hand that is not a bad thing. Rabbits are affectionate...they rub my hand as I put their food dish in the cage. They are quiet, well, unless they are throwing their dishes around at the joy of seeing me. And I have always been a little odd (not like the other mothers ;)) and so do not mind growing into the title of crazy rabbit lady. ;)

On the other hand...I still have to make sure someone is around to feed and water them, still no spontaneous, let's take off to the mountains for a week. And my "extra" money is going to provide food and housing and going to shows.

But all in all I think that life after children (living in the house) will be alright.