Return to The Nest

When the kids come home to roost it seems while some things change, others remain the same.

- PAT MCDERMOTT

My mama told me there’d be days like this. The door flew open with a bang and stayed open with the help of a large boot and three bulging suitcases.

“HEY MUM – WAZZZ-UP?”

Ruff Red was home! Or, as the MOTH (Man of the House) likes to say, “The Eagle has landed”.

We hadn’t seen him for a year and here he was in the hallway with his partner, Rebecca. They’d made it after a flight from New York and two weeks quarantine.

Ruff Red invented the expression ‘hit the ground running’. He was already on the phone to a mate. The MOTH dragged bags and suitcases down the hall. There was chocolate slice and Anzac biscuits, expensive shampoo and new towels in the guest bathroom.

I put the kettle on and cut the slice. When I was a young mum I thought our five children would be around forever, fighting over toys and accusing each other of not flushing the toilet.