lesson learned

a week ago the kids and i made a wonderful discovery that was hiding right under our noses. a mama robin had made her nest and laid four of the most magnificent blue-hued eggs under our back porch. each day we would roll the grill off to the side and mama bird would flee from her nest and into the neighboring maple tree and watch us as we peered through the cracks of our deck at the four little birdy eggs.

over the weekend a sad thing happened. after telling the kids to only look at the nest and eggs and not to disturb them, a friend convinced them that birds can't sense humans and therefore they could handle the eggs. so as my daughter scooped a tiny egg out ready to pass it on to my son, it slipped before he could catch it. it fell to the ground and cracked...

two stricken children ran into the house, tears streaming their faces. to their credit they told the truth, all of it. elena cupped the little egg in her hands and found a box to nestle it in. keith grabbed the shovel and we headed out to "the" corner. after it was done, and after some heartfelt "sorrys" were expressed, she laid a flower on top.

at bedtime there were more tears, hugs and prayers that baby bird was in heaven and that mama robin would come back to sit on the rest of her eggs. we talked about mistakes and and what we learned from it all. another of life's lessons on forgiveness, and respect for life and nature all rolled up into one.

i promised lana before i went to bed that i would walk down the steps of our back porch to see if mama bird returned. if she was there and she heard me, she would fly away. if not, there would be nothing. i opened the door quietly so as not to scare her off before i had a chance to spot her, but then walked halfway noisily down the steps. and mama bird was there. i was happy to report to the kiddos that she flew away like a banshee into our maple tree and chewed me out whole-heartedly with a "TWEET TWEET TWEET!!!". relief all around.

[photo by joseph hollick]

fingers crossed and maybe a few more prayers for good measure, and hopefully we'll have some of these cuties to show you soon...we certainly hope so.

(to be continued...)