Flight

I went for a walk this morning. Windy and overcast, the park was completely quiet. How is it that sound carries so much more clearly in the fall and winter than in the summer?? I felt so alive- my achy shins, the wind stinging my face, my hands icy cold, watching the squirrels rush away from me, a flock of little birds rushed and swooped and dove through the air like schools of fish or penguins in the water.

I wish I had a kite. The morning would have been perfect. I’ve always wanted a nice nylon kite. Bright and colorful touching the sky as though hope and joy were physical, touchable things.

I noticed several bird’s nests high up in the trees. Built on what look like fragile, tiny fingers held up in the tippy top of the trees. Held up as though the nests and the babies were offerings to God. Prayers. Hope and belief in the future. Faith in their babies that they will fledge as though they should.

Squirrels are like that too. Have you ever watched a pair of squirrels chase each other through the trees? They leap and bound with abandon. A squirrel in a hurry stretches her body out in the air. Confident she has enough propulsion to make it to the next branch, confident that the twig she’s aiming for will actually hold her weight & rebound from her forward motion. If she falls? She hops right up, shakes herself off and continues on her way.

Parenthood is like that too- you have hope and faith and belief and joy. You hold your precious babies up to the sun and believe they will fly on their own. You hope that if and when they fall, they too will pop up, shake themselves off & keep right on going.