refledgologist noun a child leaving home for the second time.
- ORIGIN mid 16th century: from the obsolete adjective fledge 'ready to fly', from Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlug 'quick, agile'.
It's odd when children leave home. Our experience, so far, has been painted from the palette of one gap year and two universities. The range of emotions and feelings that short sentence encapsulates could fill a book. A book that I would find difficult to write, on many levels.
Sigh. One day, maybe. Then again, perhaps a raw painting would better express the mood.
First Born disappeared off around the world after sixth form, on various exciting ecological and environmental capers, before returning to the UK to study at Bangor University in North Wales.
Second Born journeyed to the other end of Wales to study at Swansea University.
By a quirky twist of fate, this arrangement cancelled out their age difference so that they both began their uni careers on the same weekend in 2006. No point in dragging out the trauma more than necessary, eh? Three days of mayhem and then several months of picking through the silent wreckage of our home. Weird times, they were.
Ramping up the quirk factor another few notches, FB then squeezed in a year's placement, so that her younger sibling actually left uni a year before she did.
So whilst SB has been back at home since mid 2009, our impending move to Orkney has precipitated a refledging event, producing another bout of angst for all concerned. Emotions have been expressed through the veil of this angst, adding a layer of confusion and misunderstanding to our actions and resulting in the amplification of the effects of the roller coaster ride. White knuckles, blue language, red eyes.
Well, we're all flagging now... floating in a blissful reverie on the calm water beyond the maelstrom. SB has the keys to a new place, furniture is being redistributed and there's light at the end of the tunnel.
(We're in a tunnel now? I thought we were at sea? Or on a fairground ride? Is this one of those dreams? Probably too much cheese before bedtime.)
Perhaps this is just good exercise to prepare for saying goodbye to the aquatic life in our pond.
2 comments:
Geez, my folks kicked me out at age 17 before I graduated high school. They couldn't wait. Hopefully you've given yours a good financial start by saving on housing costs all these years. You know, if grandchildren ever come into the picture, you're going to have a heck of a commute! It's crazy you're moving. Is there a timeline, yet?
You know, that's going to be quite the journey if grandchildren ever
It will be a commute and a half, right enough!
On the other hand, summer holidays with the grandparents could be a winner too :o)
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