Marc’s been out of town this week and so it’s been *just* four of the kids and me. Also School’s back in session and with it come the sports schedules and the coming home late at night on game days. Our regular routine has been interrupted. There’s no one time that we can all get together for dinner these days – meals have become “serve yourself when you get home.” I have to stay up late to catch up with a son coming home from work. “How was your day?” And with two of our other children away at college for the semester, there’s an emptiness, an opening of the house. We find ourselves with a little too much room – with everything in soft focus.
Things are always a little off balance when there’s a significant change. We’re all walking around, trying to remember what it is we regularly do and do we still do it? Eight plates for dinner, no wait, it’s only five, no wait, tonight it’s three. Trust me though, at this time of year, we are not the only household struggling with this sense of being off kilter.
It’s a normal reaction to change, a time when you have to figure out how to adjust. I see this all the time in the flock. If there’s been an attack, there’s a few days of quiet filled with resettling while the members shift. Who’s the new alpha? Where do I roost now? Who do I follow?
It’s simply how a tight knit community works. When there’s been a change, you spend some time stumbling trying to find your new direction, but if you give it enough time and patience, a new path will be found and the community, once again, regains its balance.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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