Auntie B's Wax

Husby and I have our own little nature sanctuary (aka: back yard) that’s visited by red squirrels, grey squirrels, rabbits, deer, turtles, frogs, mice, chipmunks, butterflies, dragonflies, fireflies, and many types of birds such as robins, wrens, chickadees, finches, cardinals, bluejays, orioles, hummingbirds, bluebirds, crows, blackbirds, and every so often a hawk will drop by.  The activity and entertainment are endless.

It’s always very exciting to see a little wren take up residence in the bird house Husby hangs every year.  This year we were also happy to notice a robin building a nest on the top of the pergola over our deck, nestling it in among the vines.  When we see the newly born bunnies hopping around, barely visible in the grass munching on fallen leaves and dandelions, the mama birds are still tending to their eggs.

When the eggs finally hatch there’s much more activity and noise in the back yard.  Little cheeps are heard, and with close and careful inspection we can see tiny, fuzzy heads with open beaks peaking over the edge of the nest.  Mama Robin is back and forth with bits of nourishment for her babies, and has come to know those enormous human beings sitting so close to her nest aren’t a threat.

Today I got to witness one of the little robins take his first flight from the nest to a very nearby tree branch.  He isn’t so tiny anymore, and has feathers instead of fuzz, but it was very obvious he was nervous and unsteady even though his mother was close by on another branch of the same tree.

This guy is very adventurous. I didn’t leave home until I was twenty-two years old!

Being a neighbor of the Robin family has me thinking about how exhilarating it is to do something for the first time.  First step, first time on a bike, first kiss, first home…  When you get to be my age it seems like there aren’t too many firsts left in life, but they’re out there.  Case in point – just recently Husby and I had our first zip line experience!

Nature is a lesson to us all.  If we don’t poke our heads out of the frosty snow, we won’t become daffodils.  If we don’t venture out we won’t know all the good things the world has to offer.  If we don’t jump from the nest, we’ll never learn how to fly.