Ok - in line with my loving, caring, extremely sensitive, bla, bla, bla, son.....

He burst into the house Thursday after school. Very distraught, crying, and ranting about a bird with a broken wing. He begged, and begged, for us to go and get this bird and nurse it back to health.

I - rotten mother that I am - have decided that I have got to start saying ‘no’ to the onslaught of chores and things to do! Life has been too, too, crazy! I am trying to strike a balance... You know, the one where things go smoothly...

So much for balance, when you have your son standing before you stomping his feet and giving the best puppy dog eyes he can muster. Lets not leave out the flushed face, the quivering lips, and the big tears welling up and dripping down his face... He argued and looked at me with such disbelief. You could see the ‘what happened to my Mother’ look. It was actually painful. He pleaded "Mom! The custodian is going to put it in a box! He doesn’t know what he is doing! You do! You can do it! You can save this bird! You use to do this all the time! YOU HAVE TO TRY!!!"

Sure I thought.., there was no West Nile Virus back then, no Lyme Disease...

So, in line with ‘saving’ my family... I stood my ground. "Alex, its mother is probably nearby waiting for all the kids to go home so she can care for it... It will be fine... You’ll see, it will be gone tomorrow. Now lets do your homework." I knew if I took this bird on, we could forget about homework, not only for today, but for days to come. I wouldn’t be able to get him, or Charlee, to sleep... nor would I get any, since I would now have another life to contend with, and God knows what else! NO BIRD!!

Great, I thought, I got thru that okay. Boy it feels good to stand your ground and ‘win’. Besides... ‘Mother Nature will take care of this...’. Yeah, right!!?

Friday rolls around, and I am waiting for Alex to get home from school. I race around to get a few last minute items squared away. Amazingly, I was able to complete them... You want to know why? Cause the ‘little darling’ still wasn’t home from school! I had gotten so wrapped up in my chores, that I wasn’t watching the clock.

Now panicked, I scooped up Charlee and drove the path he usually takes. My mind raced. Why is it when you are scared or worried, time goes so slow? But when you are having great fun, it flies by in an instant. It isn’t fair. As I neared the school, there I see my ‘darling’ with a box in his hands. He is carefully carrying it, as his friend Morgan is riding his bike. Of course my moment of fear has now shifted, ever so quickly, to anger. I now realize that he was safe, actually he was in the process of saving. Saving this BIRD! I thought I took care of the bird situation!? I am starting to have issues with Mother Nature!

I counted to ten, then counted again. I lectured him for not coming straight home. Boy did I. He didn’t care. "Mommy, I am very sorry. I’ll give you all my stars... But the bird... Please, the bird is still hurt... just look at him. Can’t you help him? You used to help all the birds..." On and on, he went. All the while looking at me with puppy dog teary eyes. I wanted to pop those eyes out and ricochet them off the nearest tree... 1,2,3,4,...

My choices were dwindling. And you, Mother Nature! What happened to you?!

I came to the realization that I had to take this on. Maybe this is ‘Nature taking its course...’ It’s driving right into my head. 1,2,3,4,... some more. So my moment of anger, and protest, passed. I was now delving into the realm that every Mother, from time to time, needs a helping hand, even if that Mother is Mother Nature!

Now, what was I going to do with this bird? It was obviously not going to go away on it own, and I am not taking it home! We stood in silence, staring at each other, waiting for an answer to come.

The Vet! Yes, that was it! I had just recently donated supplies from the last bird we tried to save... they had to take it. Especially if I bring Alex in with me... I figure they couldn’t turn it away, especially if they looked at Alex’s, now perfected, weepy puppy dog face. If I, his own Mother was breaking under these persuasion tactics, a stranger didn’t have a chance!

The woman behind the counter wasn’t happy with my story... she started to say no.  ‘Oh, No.’ I thought. I pushed him up to the counter with the box. I figured let her tell him no. Let her push the box back to him! Sure enough, they took the bird, all be it under duress. We were all very relieved. All of us, even the bird. Poor thing. It’s feathers were stuck to the tape used to close the box... talk about adding insult to injury....

I called the Vet days later to get an update on our bird. First off - just for edification - it is a Morning Dove. They make a sound similar to an Owl or Loon - ‘Who, Who, Who". You will usually hear them at dusk.

Second is, it lives! Thanks to Alex. It did not have a broken wing as we suspected. It was severely, severely dehydrated. (per the Vet) They have to feed it with a tube until it is strong enough to eat on its own. It must have fallen out of its nest. When it is better the Dr. is going to release it back into the wild.

Alex summed it up "Thank you God!" with a very loud, audible sigh.

Now we can all sleep at night.