#sol21 They're BACK!

 

Thanks to Two Writing Teachers for encouraging me to write!

I wrote earlier this month about the bird's nest that consumed my mother's day gift to myself to watching children fly from the nest. 

"Remember how you were a little sad when those baby birds all flew away? she asked and without waiting for an reply, she added, "they're back!" 

And sure enough, they're back, at least cousins of my recent sublets!

I've never spent so much time watching birds build their incredible nests in strange locations that somehow protect fragile eggs from wind, rain, and the baking sun.  It's amazing how they select their locations, create their masterpieces, and nurture their babies as they grow at a breakneck pace towards maturity.  

This time, the nest rests precariously in a non-working, full-on-rusting, lantern where I was planning on hanging another plant!  

Plans for that plant are on hold as I am "expecting" little birdies on the porch, once again. 

Status: Empty Nest

WAY back on May 25th, I posted on the SOL about my eggs, sitting happily in my lovely hanging planter.  Since then, lots has happened around here.  I'm teaching Grad School in what is lovingly referred to as "Summer Session I" and my days and nights are full of papers, responses and Slides.  It's two times a week for three hours for each class.  It's grueling and invigorating and inspiring and exhausting and powerful because it is intense!

Yet, here is the amazing thing about Mother Nature.  While I am busier than a 2-armed-paper-hanger in a post pandemic-fix-up-your-house-era, those eggs, all of them hatched and the baby birds learned to fly and then left me with an empty nest!  Seriously, we watched the flying practice for two days, on and off and then the nests were empty!  

The comparison to raising children is not lost on me as the days are long, yet the years fly by.  In less than a month, ALL of my baby birds are gone from the nest and off to make their fortune in the world.  

I could be sad or I could be melancholy; however, I am too busy right now to determine and confirm those emotions. 

 Much like Moms and Dads in their busy season of life (21+ years for humans; 21+days for birds) all I can do is acknowledge I frugally watered the plant and watched those fledglings until they were ready to move out on their own.  

Much like teachers everywhere and forever, I am busy guiding my students as they prepare to lead our schools and districts towards a future where everyone is a reader engaged in stimulating curricula.  The analogy to the birds is not lost to me; those students will too flee the nest and head off to make a difference in the lives of their students.  

The days are long; the weeks, for those of us who are enduring Summer I, are short.