Our three kids started teasing me a decade ago. “What is this, Mom? You turn fifty and some bird-watching-switch flips?”
Well, yes, the joy of bird-watching seems to increase with age, but I’ve always enjoyed birds. I guess they have forgotten that while they sat completing their homework around the kitchen table, I washed dishes and watched the birds at the feeder from the window above the sink.
But what I think truly happens with age, is that we slow down to notice the world around us–we are no longer in such a race to get from one activity to another.
We pause. We listen. We appreciate the moments.
This summer has been a summer of fledglings at our feeders. Perhaps they were always visible at our feeder or in our backyard, but this is the first summer we have noticed them.
Nuthatches coaxing their young down the bark of the birch.
Young cardinal males, with their little spike-hats, perching hesitantly on a shepherd’s hook.
Oriole young fluttering their wings as they slurp the grape jelly.
Pudgy blue jays smirking from the backs of lawn chairs.
Tiny wrens hopping the pickets, escaping the confines of their tiny house.
Life and beauty is all around. I’m so glad that we quieted our pace to appreciate it.
My heart is full.
It’s a Fine Life.