Many people focus on the feelings of loved ones, specially children who go away to make their lives.Rarely do people comment on the feelings of those who are left behind. Recently as both children left to pursue their dreams(one of them had left 2 years earlier), the house suddenly seems different, quieter and with vast open spaces. Though they are just a speed dial away, they are away...There seems to be just a little more time for us, my wife and I look at each other more, buying just 3-4 singaras for tea seems to be more than enough, dinner is on time with no one having to shout and call people absorbed in a book or the computer screen.
I remember the first time we left them at school. Dragging feet, the slow shuffle, shoulders drooping, the look back....
Now the leaving behind is more confident, the eagerness is more, the trepidation is less---and after a few weeks the steps are assured, the head upright.
I watch my son go and no, he doesn't look back as he disappears over the inclined pathway--leaving behind one more picture imprinted in my memory.
As we grow older, pictures are getting more and more important.