The old year has fled into history, the new year has made its debut, and our house is once again very quiet. The spaces are now our own to inhabit, though they are sufficiently commodious to accommodate far more than just we two and our two little dogs. They too recognize the difference, that two other people with whom they are intimately acquainted, have departed the scene, until next time they mysteriously re-appear to help us celebrate yet another milestone in our lives.

So, each is asleep in its own little bed, until we are finished with the day's chores and are prepared to take them out for a ravine walk on this bright and sunny day, where a few hours earlier, as we came down to prepare breakfast, flurries were lazily circling the atmosphere.

Although it has been over thirty years since our youngest child left the family home to make his own way in the world, when he arrives back home for a visit from his own home in Vancouver, it becomes a celebratory occasion. And even though it has been just over six years since we represented the workday caregivers for our granddaughter, when she too arrives for a week's visit, it too is a cause for celebration. When those visits intersect, it becomes an even greater occasion.

When they left, one after the other, the house began to settle into its accustomed air of serenity. Gone the bustle, the expectation, the little surprises, the joined activities and shared occasions that never fail to give us so much pleasure. We half expect to hear or see one or both of them rounding a corner, laughing, joining us for breakfast, dinner, a walk in the woods, an evening board game. Or to nestle together in the family room to view a film.

Father and son to decamp to the nether regions of the house where the workshop is located and together to work on a project or discuss alternatives methods of tackling a problem. Grandmother and granddaughter to confer on a choice for the day's dessert for after-dinner presentation.

It was difficult to become accustomed to the absence of our children, one after another, as they become independent adults and left the house. It is still difficult on these very temporary occasions to bid them farewell as we once again experience the rituals of arrival and departure.