A Fine Sunday Morning in June

This is what is going on right outside the window here at the kitchen table at my dad's home in Northwest Ohio. The sound of the beating wings is amazing while everyone is sleeping or off to church this morning.


Unlike the life speed of the humming birds, things have begun to slow down a little for me. Other than the brewing storm at work with yet another parent/coaching situation, I am looking forward to finding a little respite from the storm.

This morning I am in Bryan. It has been a great morning. I got up at 5:45. The air is cool, the sun bright, and the birds are cruising the back yard as I sit at the kitchen table...... Dad has been in pretty good frame of mind and I am at ease at least for the moment.

One thing that is always good about coming home home.... is the amount of things here to read. Dad keeps the papers for a week, and also manages to pick up a lot of "other" things to read as the week progresses. One of the publications he has become pretty infatuated with is Frank Talk. You can check it out on the web at: http://www.franktalkonline.com/web/ . It is a weekly publication that is chock full of columnists who each have their own area of expertise. It is also a pretty accurate look in regard to what daily life is like for those in the tri-state area of Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. The things disussed and examined are real for real people by real people. Or maybe I should say ... "real" as I perceive real to be. It affords a nice opportunity for me to step out of the "unreal" world that I seem to live in most of the time.

One of the columns is written by a woman named Jody Aldrich. In this week's column she shares a little parable that I would like to hang on to, so..... I will quote the story here.

A few weeks ago I wrote a column telling about how good my life is and how few responsibilities or anxieties I have. However, subsequent events brought to mind a little story I heard many years ago about a little bird who was having so much fun that he didn't join his flock when they flew south. Instead, he stayed and one day, when the little bird was flying circles in the sky, he realized he was quite chilly. He began to think he should fly south after all.... and started on his long lonely journey.

As the days grew colder and colder, the little bird found it very difficult to fly.... he struggled to keep his wings beating, but alas, ice now covered his feathers, and he plummeted to the ground. And as fate would have it, he happened to land directly in the middle of a barnyard, whereupon the resident bull promptly deposited a load of fresh manure on the little fellow. Well, this certainly thawed out the birdie
and warmed him up considerably. So much so, in fact, that he poked his head up and began to sing in a very loud voice. Well this birdsong attracted the attention of the barnyard cat, who inspected its source, reached out, plucked the birdie from the pile of manure, shook him off and promptly ate him.

Now the moral to the story is this:
Everyone who piles crap on you is not necessarily your enemy. And everyone who takes crap off you is not always your friend either. But most important of all, when you are content, warm, and happy, you probably should keep your mouth shut

I like that. I will have to remember it. It seems like this is a good place to keep that parable.


Maybe it is the large number of birds that hang out here at dad's that make that parable so applicable to this situation that is looming on the horizon. Dad's goal to force change by moving from this place is understandable, but maybe he should consider the bird's predicament.

I here by resolve to be a much more frequent blogger as summer comes back around. It is hard to believe I have only blogged 36 times including this particular entry in 11 months. As a look back through some of the entries, it is notable that I am usually not in a very good frame of mind when I come here. I also resolve to have a better outlook and examine the positives as well as the negatives that cross my path.