The nest is empty
and without the chicks holding them together
some birds fly in different directions.
Job done.
So sad,
for others find the absence of young
brings far more joy in one another
than they could find while struggling
to satisfy the demands of youth.
The empty nest is the next gentle chapter
where romance can thrive again,
when laughing songs of
swooping lovers twitter through
the afternoon air and soft whispers
fill the nights.
Shawn L. Bird 
We’re taking some joy in refurbishing the nest.
How so?
There are many tears and laughter in middle-age, but I believe the joy outweighs the sorrow.
There are many joys, though it seems lately we are grieving the loss of our parent’s generation. So far, my husband and I both have both sets of parents intact (though they range in age from 78 to 100), but many of my friends have lost one or both their parents in the last year or two. All these people who teased me affectionately during my childhood and youth, gone on. It seems like only yesterday! Yesterday I read the death notice of the oldest person, who’d passed away in her sleep at 117 years old. She thought her life had seemed “rather short” which is what my centarian dad feels!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3020881/Worlds-oldest-person-dies-117.html
The glow of autumn presages another spring.
Precisely.
As old age returns to drooling, digestive biscuits, and diapers! 🙂