AJ and a LATTE

That Angry Bird

This morning I once again awoke way too early with my mind whirling with ideas.  I have begun to crochet a doily for the room I have named “Maw’s room” because it is full of things I know she would love.  I have her old pitcher and wash basin sitting on Matt’s mom’s dresser.  It is part of the bedroom suit she purchased in her very first teaching job over fifty years ago.  As our wedding gift, Matt’s father refinished the French Provencial pieces into a lovely cherrywood.  The room also houses an old oil lamp that my grandmother made into an electric lamp maintaining the old look of the lamp base and globe.  This room brings me such joy as it is finished out with her old iron headboard that had once hung as a gate on her old homeplace in Red River County (Bagwell, Texas, to be exact). The doily will be placed on the dresser beneath the water basin. It will be my offering to the room as an example of the gift of crochet shared with me by my “old broad.”  How I love that old woman still today.

I crocheted on my back porch reveling in the perfect early morning darkness. I marveled at the spiderwebs that had been spun into perfection overnight. As I counted my stitches my mind wandered and landed on the children’s book that has lay in the depths of my mind. It is a little book aimed toward boys whose mothers are experiencing the ravages of chemo. My son and I made this story up fifteen years ago when my Jesus and I faced breast cancer.  We could only read so many “well Mommy lost her hair” books before we both felt like pulling someone else’s hair out!!!!  So I halted my crochet and grabbed the laptop.

Now, I pause here to remind you who you are reading.  I can chase squirrels with the best of them! But fasten your seatbelt.  I’ll tie it together and land the plane eventually.  

As I pen the last lines of Momdor’s luscious new growth I realize the LOUD fussing of a mama bird sitting on the light cord strung around my back porch.  She has chattered nonstop for the entirety of the time I have been on the porch. It is nearing the two hour mark and she is still fussing. You see, on the other end of the porch from the little hothead is a nest.  This mama bird has had her morning interrupted by someone completely out of her control. She has chattered, sung, yelled, and stopped just short of waving a little bird legged fist in my direction. She made me wonder how many times have I done the exact same thing. Someone else was simply going about life, chasing their own squirrel, but it got in my way.  I didn’t care about their presence but it just interfered with my day or my plan.  Did I adapt or did I sit and chatter.  Was I accommodating (or at least congenial) or did I click, ruffle feathers, and do all I could to attempt to throw off my disruption?

I have to admit, I probably continue to write just to irritate that little bird.  She has interrupted my train of thought as well, but what a great example she has been to me this morning. There are often distractions and obstructions to my day.  I have a choice. I can chatter and complain or I can fly about my business and just work around the less than ideal environment.

Today, I wish you the beauty of an early morning sunrise, the calm of the still, cool morning, and all the squirrels you can chase.  I also wish you a little bird to remind you that your day is up to you and the choice has to be yours. Productivity or proclamation. Complaint or compliance. Joy or irritation. Before I go take my headache remedy from the endless diatribe (this little gal has some lungs) I challenge you to make the most of your day regardless of the little birds.

Until next time…