Unexpected Light

When my oldest child left for college, I remember telling people it felt like one of the lights in our five-bulb chandelier was out.  Life went on for the rest of us, but things seemed just a little bit darker than before.  Two years later my second son left for college, and we were down to three bulbs.  Gradually we got used to less light, less laughter, less family life; we even got kind of used to being a family of three for nine months of the year for the next three years.  Then the baby (and only girl) left for college, and life seemed pretty dim for pretty long.  Lately though, at least on some days, I've been noticing things are getting a little brighter again; some unexpected light is coming in through the windows, and no one is more surprised by this than I am.