Growing the Future

Here I type two days after my due date and my "Future" is still an unknown.



Not like unknowable, just hazy and vague. I know what I'm getting into, it just hasn't taken the form of a little human yet.

When oh when dear baby are you going to make your appearance? Andrew and I've been upstate "nesting" for two weeks now and it feels so right and relaxed to be here. Everyday I get to go walking to our stream and check in on what nature is up to. The apples on the trees are getting bigger and redder, the blueberries are swelling and beginning to ripen, mysterious flowers are making themselves known by exploding into blossom. Metaphors for my experience are all around.

Speaking of nesting, right underneath our sunporch there are three different species of birds nesting.

There's the robin who only fledged one brood (usually they have two broods)...


...and the House Sparrows who are relentlessly chiding their brood to fledge. I think the parents want them the hell out of the nest. The mom sparrow will hold a morsel of food in her mouth and make inviting sounds to try and lure them out of the nest and into the open sky, or at least the backyard. They still seem pretty young though.


And my favorite of all three is the Eastern Phoebe which is a species of flycatcher.


She is an excellent mom and unlike the sparrows who live next door and sound like they are some white trash family always dragging their arguments out into the street, she is graceful and refined and poised. A beautiful bird who has raised two broods in this finely crafted nest. If you could only see the details of lichens and moss that she has attached to the outside of it. I got really attached to her during her first brood and put a sign on the door leading to the deck over her nest that said "Use other door! Birds nesting."

I think I have gotten attached to all of these nesting birds who are using our nest as a nest. Here I am Growing the Future with all of this new life springing up and learning to take wing before my eyes. It's really inspiring and awesome in the true sense of the word to feel a part of the cycle of nature and life.

Ok Future Baby! I've got all of your wool soakers and blankets cleaned, lanolized and dried and I'm ready for you to take wing before my eyes.