Empty Nesters!

April 16, 1988. That was the last time our nest was empty. Actually, it was still being built. The following day, April 17, 1988, Lori gave birth to Aubrey and our 17-month honeymoon came to an end as we added the first of our four kids to the nest.

Fast forward to June 2017. Lori and I returned home to an “empty” house from a great Alaskan cruise. While we were gone, the last of our children –now all married and on their own– moved out of the house. 

I’ve heard different things from empty nesters. Some say it’s too quiet. Others say they miss the day-to-day, face-to-face communication with their children. Others even say they cried when that last child left home for good.

I can respect all those sentiments but put us in the category of high-fivers and fist-bumpers. We do miss our kids and grandkids but we can (and do) call, text, email, Snapchat or Facetime those who live a ways away. Heck, the lone local holdout is only a hearty softball throw away in the back pasture.

 

Homemade wooden "quilt" square

Being “home alone” as a couple is…well…fun! We are doing multiple house projects together and have many more to do as we repurpose our now empty nest. We can crank the classic rock (or country music in Lori’s case) and jokingly yell from one corner of the house to the other at any time of day or night without disturbing sleeping children or grandchildren. We can also just sit on the front porch or back deck and enjoy the serenity.

Yeah, I can get used to this.

Playtime in my revamped man cave

A Drawing of Jesus Was Actually Me

It wasn't too long ago that I sat in a small Mormon church house in tiny Plains, Montana. I was there to take part in an early morning pre-worship leadership meeting. I didn't really know any of the locals so I sat in the back, paid attention and took occasional notes when something caught my eye.

There, on the right-hand side of the room was a work of art. It looked mysteriously familiar for some reason or other (see photo to the right). It was a picture of Jesus holding a lily.

I thought, "Okay, there's that verse somewhere in the New Testament of the Bible. Maybe that's it." The actual scriptural reference is in Matthew 6:28 which states, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin."

But that wasn't it. It wasn't the head or the face either that caught my stare. It was the hands, the fingers, the arms, the body, the feet. It was the overall posture. It was so...so...familiar. Then it dawned on me. Though it was a drawing of Jesus Christ, it was actually me!

Here's the backstory. More than a decade earlier I received a phone call from a member of our shared Mormon congregation in Lolo, Montana. A friend named Jen asked for a favor. She was a talented artist who wanted to produce a new piece and needed some help. Specifically, she needed someone to pose while she worked. I worked a second-shift schedule so, even though I'd never been on the receiving end of such a request, my mornings were relatively open and I said, "Sure thing."

"Just wear a t-shirt, some shorts and bring a pair of sandals. I'll provide the rest," she said. "You'll be posing as Jesus."

Wait? What? Standing in for Jesus?

Sure enough, when I showed up Jen had me drape some cloth over my clothes so I wore a white robe. I already had the sandals on my feet and she provided me with a lily to hold. So I stood and she glanced and drew, glanced and drew and glanced and drew some more. After a while (I don't remember if it was just one morning or more than that), she said my part was finished. She thanked me and said I was good to go.

Some time later, she took a digital photo of her finalized drawing and forwarded it to me but I misplaced it during the process of replacing our old computer with a newer one. I never did see the finished product with my own eyes. That is, until that early Sunday morning meeting in the small Plains church house when the memories started to return.

Jen's mother had donated the artwork to the church. This time I wanted to capture and keep that memory so I took a photo of it with my phone.

Thanks Jen for asking me to pose as Jesus all those years ago. And thanks to her parents, too. We ended up buying Jen's childhood home.