“How was school today honey?” my mom asked as we strolled along the lakes edge. “It was great, Mr. Carlton announced that we will be doing a mock trial and I got chosen to be the-” “OH! Look at those nest in the trees above us! And look at the birds…Aren’t they magnificent?”…
I often got interrupted mid sentence when birds were involved. My mom was a lover of birds. She had a brown wicker basket of books on bird species and a pair of binoculars so she could look closely at the birds that came to visit. She loved birds so much that her and my father gave me the nickname Jenny Blue Bird. In all honesty my nickname started out as Jenny Taco but as you can imagine, that wasn’t well received by the younger, overweight version of myself.
Jenny Blue Bird became my signature for just about everything. Every card I signed, every account I created, and every dream about opening my own business became associated with my nickname in one way or another. It was almost as if I was given this nickname in hopes that one day I would be a bird lover myself.
I fought the urge of loving birds for the longest time. Every time I was invited to take a walk by the lake I would immediately think “No no no no no”, but each time I was talked into it. I would go and watch my uncle photograph the baby birds that just hatched and I would watch my dad take videos of the baby ducklings. My mom would talk about the beauty of each bird she laid eyes on and why the males are more colorful than the females. My heart slowly began to soften to the idea of being a bird lover. I couldn’t help it, the beauty of each bird and how every species is unique in coloring was fascinating. While my heart was slowly changing, my head was still putting up a front to anything bird related.
As the years went on I began asking questions about birds, like “What kind of bird is that?” and “Why do some birds fly in circles over one specific area?” or “Why is that big bird being chased by the smaller bird?”. All these questions were answered by none other than my knowledgeable mother. She would explain the differences between a Blue Bird and a Blue Jay, and how scavenger bird’s will fly in circles over something that is either dead or about to be dead. She also explained that the little birds will chase away the bigger bird’s from their nests to protect their babies. Soon I was able recall what species a bird was just by seeing it fly by. While my knowledge of bird species is very little compared to that of my mothers, I am proud of what I know because the knowledge came from my amazing mother.
When creating this account I chose the username The Sparrow Flys at Night. Why not Blue Bird? You ask….I chose to go with sparrow partially because I wanted to remain anonymous to my friends and family, but also because its during the night that I get to spread my wings and soar through dreams. I imagine myself soaring over cities and watching my dreams unfold into unexpected goals that I later set for myself when I wake up. At night is when I’m free to write down my thoughts from the day, away from the grabbing hands of curious babies. At night is when I get to reflect on my day and prepare for a new one. At night is when I get to sing like a song bird and play my guitar. At night is when I get to fly.
As I walk around the lake with my two babies and my best friend, I find myself being just like my mom was with me all those years ago. We walk and talk about the life of being a mom and just as my friend is mid sentence I look up at the same tree my mom did and I see the magnificent Egrets and their enormous nests. I can’t help but interrupt the conversation and point out the beauty of the birds above. While my friend is less than impressed and slightly caught off guard by my sudden interruption, I silently hope that I can pass on my love of birds to my children as my mom has to me.
P.S.
-In the meantime I’m taking ideas for nicknames for my daughter Lilly that includes some sort of bird species. Share your thoughts with me 🙂
thesparrowflysatnight 