When do you miss someone?

Last few months have been  very busy. With my twin sons taking the 12th standard board exams and then the craziness of applying to various colleges ..... Life was just revolving around the objective of ensuring that they got admitted into a good engineering college. Even though at this age kids generally need you just for food and money and lead independent social lives your daily schedule is still linked to theirs. They are the centre around which your life events revolve. Sometimes you secretly wonder what it would be like to be free of responsibilities of providing boarding and lodging to two people who don't lift a finger and live your life as you fancy. It's a very indulgent thought and makes one sigh in longing. Then the day comes and they leave. I left them at the airport early morning and came back feeling just fine. I was actually looking forward to doing a lot of things undisturbed by the demands of feeding and cleaning up the room of my sons. I automatically started setting the table for breakfast and then it hit me when I didn't set plates for them. They were gone. I realised how much of a mothers love is expressed in feeding her kids. That is when the tears came. The realisation of missing your loved ones comes at the most ordinary moments which you spent with them.