Well, it really did come—September 11, the inauspicious day for our last nestling to fly.
And the ferry came and took us all away to the big city for the scheduled flight…
We spent a last day together—shopping for nothing, eating for ‘special’ and sleeping, but not too soundly or too long.
Then in the dark early morning hours we boarded the hotel shuttle and in a flash we were at Airport Security, having a last huddle, and a last prayer together, but not last tears…
And she was gone.
We two parentlings did the only reasonable thing after that (though admittedly not the intuitive notion for a mother bird so recently deprived of the fledgling in her care). We went back to the hotel and back to sleep till a more sensible hour to face such a day.
And when we had woken and eaten we rallied our resources and went pedaling along one of the flattest pieces of this earth—the dike of the local estuary over which the airplanes take off to far-flung places…
And we found we could still breath and pedal and enjoy this brilliant bit of Indian Summer so graciously provided for our pleasure on a bittersweet day. Not a hint of melancholy in this sort of weather!
But knowing there will be others, I made a priority of shopping for a raincoat that will remove any excuse for getting out when the rains return and I most need a walk to rouse me from my reverie!
Having done that we headed for the ferry and a happy peaceful reflective wait in the nearby village… 
And it was good to be just us two again, after all these years. The arriving late to a hauntingly empty house was harder, but there was grace… The day came, and passed and we have survived, so far. God has been gracious to us!
–LS
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Ps.36:7
