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..the heart of darkness ....March 24, 2008   As the parent of adult children, I lived through Empty Nest Syndrome (ENS).  Having been previously immunized by a bout with No Nest Syndrome, the symptoms of ENS were mild.  As it turns out, coming home to discover that your nest is gone is quite the ENS palliative.  Unfortunately, I have developed a new illness that afflicts me every time my children come for a visit.  The affliction is, as yet, nameless. It seems natural for a parent to feel sadness when his children return to their own abodes following a visit home.  But it wasn't sadness I felt when my children first left me after their visits.  It was despair, the kind one gets when he mixes three parts guilt with a jigger of regret and a dash of self-loathing.  I had hoped it would get better with time, but instead, my condition has deteriorated.  Now I plunge into darkness as soon as my children announce an upcoming visit.  By the time their current visits end, I am like the man buried alive by a maniac, which is to say, inconsolable.  previous..|..current..|..archives..|..1st quarter index..|..next

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