The cats were on it first. Poised in a purrrmanant stance dictated by some primordial instinct they remained fixated and staring at the glass door of our balcony. There, on the other side of the night, pummeling the door and windows in frantic flutter back and forth, was a baby bird. Seemingly lost in the dark drawn to the light beyond the glass, it slammed its little wings over and over again in a futile attempt to free itself from the nightmare.
The cats were hypnotized following the wee bird’s body slams from above and below their vantage points. What to do? Pete and I were prepared to find a way to capture the wayward baby and rescue it as fast as we could. And then, as if by magic, it stopped, turned around, and shaking its wings in what appeared to us as triumph (possibly a birdy “aha moment?”), just flew away into the night.
Relief! Though the cats now had to resign themselves to the boredom of relinquishing their feline fascination with their version of “the food channel,” Pete and I were thrilled to witness the little bird’s freedom. That, and realizing the rest of our evening wouldn’t have to be spent with having to rescue and succor a tiny terrified feathered baby 24/7.
Later, we marveled at the drama that had broken through the peace of our up-to- that-moment quietude—with cats splayed out in contented curls around us as Pete and I played our guitars together. And then that “what the…?” broke the silence and nearly the glass door.
The next morning we recalled our surprise in witnessing such heart-pounding drama. And it occurred to us that it was yet another Nature Teacher gift: The Lesson of Choice. Even if you think that what is before you is your demise, a wall of impossibility, disappointment, and exhaustive dead-ends, most of the time all you have to do is turn around. Turn away from it. Discover a new perspective that might not only save you it could even allow you to spread your wings and fly in an entirely new and far more freeing direction.
I think I’ll leave those smudge marks on the glass door and windows just a little longer to remember the impression that little bird made in lifting our own spirits as it lifted its wings and soared away…
