Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Bird Again

Do you see what we see?
Just when I'm completely exasperated with the mom-at-home life, God gives me a nudge to say, "There are good things here." Today's tiny moment came with feathers. Ye olde minivan was about to shift into reverse and take the gang to our public pool for morning swimming lessons -- a chilly prospect on a 60-degree morning. William piped up with, "What's that animal in the garage?" Chipmunks do scamper along the wall from time to time, so that's what I thought he saw. It was not, though. "The bird on the bike," was his response to his own question. What no one but the three-year old saw was a baby robin, just a few days out of the egg, sitting on the handle bars of Erik's bike. I didn't relish the idea of trapping the bird in the garage while we were out, so I hopped out of the van to chase it away. It didn't move. In fact, as I reached for the bike, it opened it's little beak as if I had a big worm to offer. (Chorus of laughter from my own baby birds back in the van.) It sat on the bike staring at me as I rolled the bike out of the garage. Only as I parked the bike next to the house did it take flight, while doing what startled animals do ("Not on my bike!"), then aiming for -- and missing -- the neighbor's garage light. (Landing with accuracy is apparently an acquired skill.) We were go to go, right? Oh, no. Baby bird tried to come back as we were backing down the driveway, landing first on the van roof, then sitting in the middle of the driveway staring at us as we drove away.

Nature is weird and it takes a 3-year old to spot the silly.