The Simple Things

I love my new office!  Outside of my BIG window (it's most of the wall) to the west is a flat roof that extends over to the other part of our building.  It sits over the front hallway.  There is a big, very old tree that sits just across the sidewalk and shades the whole area, so I have the tree and all the birds that 'visit' during the day.  The flat roof is supposed to have a drain so that the rain water doesn't sit there but the tree continues to plug the drain providing lots of little birdbaths for my little friends.  As I sit at my computer I watch the cardinals and the blue jays splashing and soaking themselves in the water.  Of course there are the robins, the wrens, the sparrows and a couple of finches, too.  The girls in one of my classes were teasing that if they saw me with a hose this summer they would know what I was doing!

I was telling a young friend about my 'sanctuary' the other day.  Her eyes began to glaze over and I could tell that she really did not understand how special this was, so I took her up to see it.  After a few minutes, she looked at me and said, "OK.  They're just birds splashing in water.  It's nice."  But I could tell she wasn't very impressed.  Which got me to thinking (I think I've told you before that this is when the girls I used to work with would always have someplace to go)....

You know, when I was her age, I don't know that I appreciated the birds either.  So, is it my age that has made me slow down and notice these things?  Is it maturity that teaches us to appreciate the little, beautiful things in our lives or is it all the lessons we've learned by this age that have taught us that life is precious, that we should take the time to enjoy the little things in our lives because we are not guaranteed anything more than this. 

I mowed my grass yesterday and when I was finished I sat on my deck and watched the birds and the squirrels in the trees.  They're all back after the winter and they were all talking at the same time yesterday.  The birds were telling the squirrels to get out of their trees and the squirrels were talking right back to them.  (It reminded me of some people I know.  We're not so different after all).  My son had come out and while we were talking a beautiful eagle came flying over.  He (or she) just glided over the treetops for a few minutes and then flew farther north.  We are fortunate that we have many eagle's nests along the river just east of us a few miles.  This is not the first time I've seen eagles flying over our little town.  They are such majestic and regal birds!  Here was all of this chatter in the trees and there was the eagle gliding way above all the fray.

Again, maybe it's my age, but I thought about that eagle last night and how I long to be like it!  Sometimes I am those robins and wrens yakking away, not really saying anything, but making a lot of noise.  Sometimes I am those blue jays and cardinals, just enjoying the day and what God has given me.  I hope that there are just as many days that I am the eagle, gliding above all the fray and frustration, simply gliding and trusting.  The eagle seemed to look down on all that ruckus and shake his head as if he understood that all that commotion was pointless in the long-run.  He seemed to know that his place was above all of that.

I want to remember that eagle and that scene from yesterday.  I hope that I have many more like it, sitting out there this summer, but if I don't, I'll still have that video in my head to remind me that I want to be the eagle.  When I catch myself being the yakking robin, I will remember that my intention is to fly above all the noise and confusion and glide away to my quiet place, my serene place, my 'nest.'  I still want to be the blue jay and cardinal and have fun and enjoy life, too.

So, I guess I don't have an answer about the age thing.  I do think we have to have faced some of life's challenges and learned some of life's lessons to really appreciate the simple things in life.  I think that as children we enjoy it all because it is so new.  Then there is a period after our childhood that we take for granted a lot of things.  We just assume that they will always be there. 

It's at the middle part of your life, as your children are out on their own and you're slowing down a little bit  that you take the time to stop and enjoy.  We've learned there are no guarantees, no promises.  It could all be gone tomorrow so we learn to take a deep breath and enjoy...today, right now, the simple things in life.

Each day, awakening, are we asked to paint the sky blue? Need we coax the sun to rise or flowers to bloom? Need we teach birds to sing, or children to laugh, or lovers to kiss? No, though we think the world imperfect, it surrounds us each day with its perfections. We are asked only to appreciate them, and to show appreciation by living in peaceful harmony amidst them. The Creator does not ask that we create a perfect world; He asks that we celebrate it. ~Robert Brault

Cleanup Time!



photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine

As I was checking in with my friend on Going Like Sixty this morning, he reminded me that along with springtime comes the after-winter cleanup.  As my cousin says, "Oh joy!"  (This was not a phrase used much in my house, since it was my mother's name, so it always catches my attention when I hear it).  As I sit at my desk looking out my window, I see leaves from the neighbor's tree.  I see birds--LOTS of robins and blackbirds out there this morning.  And I see the 'deposits' my dog left over the winter.  Ugh!!!  And I like springtime because....?

Isn't it funny?  By the end of the summer and fall seasons, we're so tired of mowing, raking, pruning, and just general maintenance that we close the doors and decide to deal with it in the spring.  Well, now spring is here and I have a choice.  I could just leave it (not really in my nature to do that--ever!) or I could go out and get to work!  "Oh joy!"  (Sorry Mom).  I see on Facebook that my friend in Arkansas spent four hours working in her yard.  I'm not sure I'm that excited about spring yet, of course her spring is a lot farther along than my spring.  Even just driving an hour an a half south to my parent's house you see a real difference:  crocuses blooming and daffodils peaking through the ground.  No signs of that kind of life here yet.

So I'm debating about how to 'attack' the front yard.  The last time the yard was so full of birds, many of my little feathered friends left their 'deposits' on my car and one especially friendly fellow left a more personal message on my hand.  I'm not sure that the yard is so bad, after all.  The birds seem to be enjoying it just as it is.  After all, aren't we supposed to be going more green?  I guess I could put on my old raincoat and hat.  My son has an old pair of boots I could use. Hmmm....would I wear this to clean the yard or is this just to walk to the car?  Seems it could work either way. 

Maybe I'll wait a few more days.  It's supposed to be in the sixties by Wednesday or Thursday.  Maybe by then the birds will have moved on in their migration process.  It will give me a few more days to plan.  After all, a project like this will require some pretty intense preparation!  Sounds reasonable, don't you think? 

Who Makes Up These Rules?

I am the oldest of four children.  As such, I was always being told to "act my age."  Now, at the time, I never really understood that; I thought I was!  After all, just exactly how does a twelve year old behave?  I remember wanting a doll for my birthday that year and being told that I was too old for those kinds of toys.  Who makes these rules?  I'm fifty-three years old now, and I still can't figure out where these rules come from!  Who decides what nineteen year olds "should be," or thirty year olds, or fifty-three year olds?

You know, I've run into some "issues" in my life because I refuse to be or act the way I am "supposed to."  In fact, I was told recently by someone very close to me that I should get my act together and behave as someone my age should behave and yet, when I asked exactly how that was, I didn't get an answer.  I'm just supposed to know.  Well, guess what?  I do know and I am. 

Most days, I feel like I'm nineteen again and I can do anything.  I don't let what other people think I "should" be or do, determine my path.  Yes, there are those days when I feel like I'm at least fifty three years old (and probably more).  I have aches and pains and I'm cranky and just generally out of sorts, but I don't allow those days to become my norm. 

I know this is the only life I'm going to have on this earth and I'd better make my days count.  I can sit at home and feel badly about the way some things have gone in my life, or I can enjoy all the things that have gone right and look forward to more!  I choose the latter!  I want to be like that little cardinal who landed in my front yard yesterday.  It's way too early for cardinals in Nebraska but there he was, all by himself, splashing in the melting snow puddle on my sidewalk.  Good for him!  He may have to weather a snow storm or two but he is obviously strong of character and wise enough to weather the storm. 

Hmmmm.....birds of a feather?