the baby bird

i'm not a mom who's quick to come to my child's aid - cause the likelihood is that they've got their mind made up that they cannot accomplish what it is they are fully capable of accomplishing.

i'm not a mom who's always excited to see what it is my child wants to show me - unless its William because his show and tell is usually few and far between and to be quite honest, is fascinating if not inventive as well - because to be quite honest i've seen it all before and i'm hoping to mold for my child when its most appropriate to vie for someone's attention... the bets aren't on the smoothest rock you found in the garden.

understandably, the appeal for attention says something about my lack of playing puzzles on the floor with my child, baking with my child and in turn, allowing umpteenth hours of AWESOME be branded into their minds by watching Star Wars IV, V and VI this last week.  (oh wait, and twice since we've been here they've watched Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones) - but all this is beside the point for the time being.

this afternoon i sat on my parents' covered patio in the afternoon heat... katie and will had just woken from quiet time and ben was still asleep in the back room - fan on, cool, crisp sheets and the shade drawn... the perfect summer nap.

all was blissful as the kids ran in wide circles around the yard and disappeared for a moment here and there to check the flower beds out front for bugs... when all of a sudden, Katie came to the patio panicked and stammering.  She asked me to come see what she had found.  This panic was different, the stammering was actually new and so i followed with intrigue in my step i might say...



and this is what they had found

so not unlike Michelle O'Shea attempting to rescue a Chihuahua from a busy intersection, i did what any mother would do.

at the request of my two eldest children, i beckoned my Mom's help and grabbed the extension ladder... when there was no possible way of using it to get me close to the nest (nestled under the eaves and hidden behind a tree too dense to penetrate with a large ladder) i mustered all my natural instinct and found. a. way. of getting this bird home...

in my demin mini skirt i scaled my parents' two story house one roof at a time... from front stoop to top of garage; from top of garage to top of house; from top of the house over the peak of the house... and down the other side...

and the children looked on while my cape blew in the wind, my copper bracelet blinded them in the sunlight and my tight, rubber boots gripped the shingles on the roof.

i slid the bird close to its nest and looked down at katie with a smile and a wink...