I can’t believe I’m caught up in this whole thing. I feel like I have become one of those people that others talk about. You know, “Did you hear what Bob is doing?”
I will tell you how it started. My wife was observing some type of a shore bird building a nest on our lake about 15 ft. from shore. I paid little attention to it at first until the mama bird laid eggs, and a storm came.
The wake that the storm created caused the nest to be shaken a bit…along with the Mama bird and her mate. Feverishly they worked to add to the nest so it wouldn’t be torn apart in the storm and sink. They worked hard to find additional materials to “shore” up the nest. That’s when it started.
Our family started gathering twigs, roots, anything that they could build with and placed them along the bank. We hoped that in some small way we could contribute to the nest and the safety of the eggs. When I woke up the next morning, what did I do? You guessed it, I got the binoculars to see how things were going. Much to my surprise and satisfaction, much of what we had left along the shoreline had been used to strengthen the nest. All was well with mama bird and her soon to be baby birds.
I’m not usually that person. I’m normally the guy who says, “let nature take its course. The birds know what they are doing, they don’t need my help.” But then it dawned on both my wife and me why this sudden interest in helping mama bird keep her nest safe and secure? It’s simple – in two months our nest will be empty. And it’s far more difficult than we ever imagined.
These past few weeks have been a flurry of activity with our youngest. There was prom, graduation and the graduation party. Add to it our wedding anniversary and, in just a few weeks, milestone birthdays for both of our kids. Less than a month after that? The oldest goes back to college and the youngest launches her college career. On top of it, she’s my little girl!
I think the problem is I’m losing control. I will no longer know what either of them is doing every waking moment. I’ll wonder how here classes are going, if she’s healthy and if she is safe (since I’m not there!). Oh, make no mistake, I wondered the same when it came to my son.
I think the bird’s nest in our lake is a symbol of our nest. We have kept them safe from the storm, shored up their home and watched them hatch. Now it’s time for them to fly! To soar on their own and find their own way. And it scares me. But I know that as they fly we have given them a sense of direction and principles to keep them safe.
Pretty soon that mom in the nest in our lake will do the same. The eggs will hatch, the birds will learn to fly and one day they will leave the nest to find their own way. In the not too distant future, I will look out for the nest in the lake and will see it is empty. But I’ll know that we had a part in keeping them safe so one day they could fly. And fly they will.
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