Simon came running into the family room yelling (I believe he has one volume - LOUD) "Mommy, mommy it's a robin bird. Look there's a robin bird outside."
I took off running to see if a bird had once again been trapped in our screened porch. Birds trapped in our porch are a pretty common occurrence and my fear is that Beamer will discover a bird "toy" during one of his potty outings and bring it in the house.
As I looked out the window I was pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful bright red male cardinal perched on our bird feeder and the female sitting on the branch behind him. Breathtaking.
At this point, I am surrounded by 5 little bodies pushing past me to see what Simon is talking about. They too have seen many a birds frantically trying to find the porch door to try and find their way out.
"Simon that is a cardinal, isn't it beautiful"
"Look mommy it's a batman bird", Mary Kate said with such pride.
"Mary Kate it's a cardinal"
"Oh a batman cardinal, look it's a batman cardinal mommy"
I think she is now understanding that Batman and Robin have nothing to do with the birds that are ever so patiently waiting for me to snap a picture. See my birds and I have an understanding, when they visit I frantically search for my camera to try and get the perfect "thank you Nawnie" picture. I think I may have just captured it. I was able to tip-toe onto the porch and zoom in on our visitors.
So why the "thank you Nawnie"? Some of my fondest memories of my maternal grandmother (Nawnie) are sitting on the couch in her living room with her looking out the window and talking about the birds. Usually within reaching distance you would find the 3 inch thick dark green Audubon society book that helped us to correctly identify the birds that were visiting on any particular day. The cardinal and blue jays were the ones we would always get the most excited over. They always seemed to be in abundance when Nawnie and I would bird watch. Since Nawnie died nearly 19 years ago (gulp!) every time I spot a cardinal or blue jay I flash back to those times and am reminded of the love of a grandmother. I am also reminded of how thankful I am to have my own mother to be a "nawnie-type" grandma to my kids.
The red cardinal holds a very dear spot in not only my heart, but in my sister, my mother and brothers hearts. There are days when things aren't necessarily going the way I would want and as I am driving along a cardinal will fly past my car. In my head I'll say a quick "thank you Nawnie" as I have been reminded to love, to be patient and to be truly thankful for the blessings that I have (no matter that they are screaming their heads off in the back seat!).
Posts
