For the Birds

As a SAHM, there are many things I think are ‘for the birds’ – like laundry, dishes, and cooking (clearly I didn’t read the job description before I accepted!). 

Interestingly, birds hold a very special place in my family’s heart. My late grandfather, in his retirement, built and tended to bluebird houses around a golf course and was an avid bird watcher. Many members of our family have bird figurines in our homes to help us remember him (he was so special to me that we named our first born after him). There is some irony in that our local high school mascot is the Bluebirds (aka ‘the birds’), which I find terribly humorous on several levels (is a bird an intimidating opponent?). So needless to say, we have a lot of birds in our home.

What will become more meaningful (and funny) after you finish reading this, is that hubby came home tonight and had dubbed L our ‘canary in a coal mine’ since she has been known to alert us of ‘danger’ in our home. I might have to increase our collection and buy a canary figurine for L’s room now.

Now the story I eluded to in my last post about our water problem (remember L was the one who woke us up saying she heard a loud sound….)

It was late summer (mid-late August). L had been sick for a few days, running a mild-grade fever but nothing really serious. Friday night she comes into our room around 2am and pokes me on the shoulder (why do they always come to me in the middle of the night and not hubby?). She says she saw a bird in her room. As any good mom would have done, I told her that she did NOT see a bird but that her fever must have broken. I walk her back into her room and ‘looked’ around to make sure there were no birds. Yup, no birds. Back to bed.

The next morning L comes into our room and taps me (not hubby) on the shoulder and says that she saw it again and knows that I am right. Her words exactly (I will never forget): ‘" saw it again mommy. You were right, it wasn’t a bird. It was Peter Pan’s shadow". YES! Peter Pan’s shadow. That’s it. Not a bird. So, on with our day…..

Saturday night, we had a block party and put the kids to bed a bit later than usual. I was in bed with L talking about our day (a nightly ritual we’ve followed since they were young in an effort to have them remember their childhood). Wanna guess what happens next? A BAT FLIES RIGHT OVER OUR HEADS! There is a ‘bird’ in L’s room!

The antics of the next 30 minutes are enough for another post, so I will spare you the details (although if filmed, we are convinced it would have had at least one million views on YouTube!). Needless to say, L was right. There was actually a bird in her room, although I still like to think it was Peter Pan’s shadow.  So, as referenced in my lessons in my last post, we will ALWAYS listen to L when she says something is amiss.

Lessons I (re)learned today:

·         I really hate really cold weather!

·         Perspective is important

·         Wine makes most things tolerable.