Empty nest conversations

There has never been the absence of sound at home, but too often now there is an absence of words instead

There is a strange absence of young adults in our neighbourhood. My wife, who is a bit of a busybody, tells me this is because everyone’s grown-up children have left home, leaving their middle-aged parents without an anchor. Some got married and moved away; others went overseas to study and stayed back; still others decided they wanted to give independent living a shot. “It must feel strange,” said my wife wistfully, imagining the extra rooms at home as gyms, libraries or coffee parlours, as her friends have done. “I could use a walk-in cupboard,” she mentioned to our daughter, who