Fleeing the nest

I am sat at the computer and I am alone in the house. I am deep in the knowledge that this will be occurring with more regularity very soon as my little one is starting nursery. When I was leaving him yesterday for his first session, I spotted a few parents with quivery lips looking a little sombre but I was not one of them. Perhaps this is because Elliott The Great ran straight into nursery, ready for adventure and battle like he was Captain Jack Sparrow (his current favourite hero), perhaps it is because after six years working as a stay-at-home mother I am also ready to take flight.

I am in no denial that over the coming weeks I will miss him. I will get a lump in my throat at some stage that I will not be able to shift for a time, I will mourn my baby days being over and I will question my future but above all of this I am thankful. Thankful for the privilege of having spent these months, days, hours and minutes with my 'pocket rocket' of a boy, thankful for his health and happiness, his growing independence, his busyness and his ability to make his entire family collapse in laughter, again and again and again. I am also thankful to my hubby for making it all possible.

All photos by Stuart Tonge