Tiny Glass Bowl of Bread
Usually when we have crusty bread with dinner, I slice the bread and put the pieces in a serving bowl that matches our plates. But one night last week, the twins were with my parents, and I cut up the bread and put the smaller amount in a glass soup bowl.
“That’s a tiny bowl of bread,” Josh pointed out.
“That’s what our bowl of bread is going to look like in four years,” I replied.
In four years, the twins will be in college, and we will be eating our meals again as a twosome. I don’t like to think about it, but we have to think about it because it’s the one piece of helpful advice other twin parents have given us to make the transition easier. It’s a big jolt to go from a full house to an empty nest all at once. Everyone has told us to have a plan in place before it happens so we don’t spend the first few months completely lost.
So far, we have thrown out a handful of hobbies that we plan to pick up over the next year or two so we have a few distractions in place. I’m looking into volunteer work, trying to get involved in new organizations now so I can step into a leadership position down the road. Josh and I have talked about going to the UK once a year, spending a few days seeing shows in London and then traveling out to a different area, such as the Channel Islands or Scotland, for another week.
I am scared of the glass bowl of bread; knowing that it will be an almost-every-night thing and not a one-off meal because the twins are doing something else. Maybe THAT is where I should be focusing my efforts; obtaining the most awesome bread bowl in the world so I don’t have to see the tiny glass bowl and think about how I’d rather be using the big one that matches our plates.
4 comments
My daughter is never leaving, so I won’t have this problem. Hahahahahahaha!
Actually, I will be eligible to retire when she’s ready for college, so we can institute any kind of major life change that we want. I don’t make plans like that – I have more of a Que Sera, Sera attitude.
Sounds like you have some good ideas for your tiny bread bowl days. And still, I know how much this anticipation grieves you.
{{{Mel}}}
That image of the tiny bowl of bread got me right in the heart. I think a new bowl is a great idea! I didn’t really think about that, the sudden empty nest with twins. Oof. I think your plans are great– so smart to think of ways to cushion the absence ahead of time, as painful as that must be. Sending you love!
I’ve been thinking on this post the past couple days. It’s hitting real close to home for me in a way that is different but still the same. And I started to think back. I can’t think/look forward because it just rips my heart out.
I guess over the last year or two we have had far less dinners where everyone is all together than we ever had. Because of social lives of teens and jobs. And actually just the other night my 5 year old commented that “everyone was here” at the dinner table. Usually it’s all of us minus the oldest because she often works in the evenings, and we have had a few meals where it’s just half of us. Sometimes I don’t completely notice until we are setting the table, or when I see how much food is leftover at the end of the meal.
I guess my point is that the smaller glass bowl of bread might end up being more gradual over the next 4ish years than you think. So maybe when the time comes, that small glass bowl won’t be so jarring. I mean, I don’t know. I guess I’m hoping that is the case because my smaller glass bowl of bread is going to be happening real soon and I hope I’m prepared for it. Probably not, but I can’t stick my head in the sand and hope, right?