A view from The Bird's Nest
Our bags were nearly packed and we were just about ready to go on our first Empty Nester vacation. I had mindlessly thrown clothes I thought I might need into a duffle bag, while Kevin had packed his bag with precision. My bag was in the middle of our bed, while Kevin’s bag was precariously balancing on our dresser. His bag had nearly fallen off the dresser when I had walked past it, so I had shoved it back against the large mirror that was leaning against the wall. The second time I walked past the bag and nearly bumped it off again, I decided to take it to the front door where the rest of our vacation baggage was patiently waiting in line to be loaded into our car.
As I turned my back to leave the room, there was a mighty thud. I turned around and saw a kaleidoscope of reflections inside the frame of what had been the mirror. The mirror had broken into a thousand pieces. It seemed very apt: my empty nester mom’s heart seemed to have found its twin on the floor. I stared at it for a moment and then called our son. I asked him if he would take care of the mess, so we could just get out of the mess and onto the road. He willingly agreed to this absurd request. We packed all our belongings into the car and drove off in a mood that was a mix of excitement, sadness, and frustration. Excitement, because this would be our first real empty nester adventure. Sadness due to not having our one and only son with us on vacation for the first time ever. Frustration, because now we would have to replace the mirror!
We had decided to stay at an Airbnb on a farm in south west Michigan. The apartment was fittingly named The Bird’s Nest and located on Mud Lake Farm. It had an open plan design with a full kitchen and bathroom. We were able to cook our own food and more importantly, make our own coffee each morning. Kevin is the barista in our household, so handling the coffee maker, measuring spoon and carafe is his forte. Part of his barista job also includes rinsing out the carafe after each use. On our 5th vacation day, the carafe slipped out of his hands and shattered in the ceramic sink into a 3-D glass puzzle. We looked at each other in disbelief, which quickly turned into exasperation. Now we had to leave our quiet Bird’s Nest and try and find a replacement carafe in a world of supply chain issues.
After three hours of traipsing around, we finally found one lonely replacement carafe in a large retail store. We were relieved, but felt robbed of the precious hours we could have spent going on another adventure. However, the broken carafe had been replaced with a new one, and we felt we had done the right thing by buying it: we would have coffee the next morning and the hosts wouldn’t have to scramble to find a new carafe before their next visitors arrived.
Now it was time for a brand-new adventure for us! We decided to try our hands at some novel arts and crafts. The Express Yourself Art Barn beckoned us and we decided to make a mosaic mirror together. We had asked to join the glass fusion class in the morning, but were told it was filled to capacity. The very gracious owner must have sensed our disappointment, and opened a spot just for us in the afternoon. We stayed for the day and created not only a beautiful mosaic mirror, but also a four-season themed outdoor glass tile.
Two days later, it was time to pick up our art pieces. We were very pleased with how the mosaic mirror turned out with grout added to finish it off.
The owner picked up the glass fusion tile we had created two days earlier, to show to us. As she was reaching to hand it to us, one side of the tile broke off and shattered into pieces on the floor! We all stood frozen, staring at her hand with one half of the tile still in it, and then at the glass fragments on the floor. It was too bizarre to comprehend. The owner then apologized and asked us if we had time to create another tile. We had no other plans, and immediately went about crafting another tile which turned out great.
We have since returned from our vacation and I have kept pondering the word BROKEN. These are some words that came up online to define “broken”: violently separated into parts, damaged or altered by or as if by breaking, being irregular, interrupted, or full of obstacles, made weak or infirm, crushed, sorrowful, bankrupt, disconnected, not complete, disunited.
I was reminded of some Bible verses where the word “broken” is mentioned, so I decided to look them up.
Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
My Heavenly Father is close to me when my heart is separated into a million parts because I am grieving the loss of my son’s childhood. He protects my squashed spirit!
Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
My weak, bankrupt spirit is a living sacrifice to God. My damaged and repentant heart are not despicable to God. These words are so good to know! I can come to God just as I am, with all my brokenness, sadness, and frustration.
Psalm 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
God repairs my despondent heart and fixes my hurts. He helped us as empty nesters to reconnect and healed some of our grieving.
All the broken glass on our empty nester vacation are great reminders of God’s love and care in the midst of our frustrations, sadness and as well as new adventures! On our vacation we were able to replace the large broken mirror on our dresser, by creating a new smaller mirror frame with broken up pieces of glass. Our new mosaic mirror frame will remind me of all these verses, every time I look at it. The graciousness of the owner at the art studio in making space for us first and then giving us a second chance to create another glass tile, reminds me of God’s care. I realize that even though the first glass tile broke, we had an opportunity to hone our skills in the art of glass fusion, as well as spend time together making more memories as couple!
God bless until next time!
P.S. Check out the delicious products available on Mud Lake Farm by St.Steve's Cordials & Soda . They also produced farm-crafted sodas, herbal teas, greens, and candy!
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