People always talk about becoming an empty nester, but it's also strange to leave the nest empty

"My parents have always wanted to be parents. Once they had married, bought a house in the suburbs of Johannesburg, and adopted their second dog, I was overdue. When, finally, they brought me home from the hospital and set my carrier on the kitchen counter, the picture of our family was complete. Over the years, there were board games and school plays, holidays by the sea, photographs of the three of us smiling, and in each of them, all of us, growing a little older."

"I have a distinct memory, standing in the doorway, measuring my height against the frame, and counting on my fingers how many years it would be until I turned 16 - double my lifetime, all of it once over. After that, more memories. Christmas Eve. Two Father's Day rugby games, a decade apart. A school sports day, running fast toward my father at the finish line, as he proudly snaps proof that things move too quickly, even in the races we enter just for fun."

An only child was raised in a suburban Johannesburg home where parents wanted children and completed their family after adopting a second dog and the child's birth. Childhood included board games, school plays, seaside holidays, and photographs that recorded gradual aging. A vivid memory shows the child measuring height in a doorway and calculating years until sixteen. Subsequent memories include Christmas Eve, two Father's Day rugby games a decade apart, and a school sports day where the child ran toward a father taking photographs. The child later chose a university an hour away and continued weekend visits.

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