I'm Afraid The Robin News Is Not Good... :-(

     Sometimes life can be hard. That's the lesson I learned from the whole 'Robin Story'. :-( I guess you can deduce from what I've already said that this is not going to be my usual happy, upbeat robin story. I'm reduced this morning to forcing myself to find something to be positive about in all of this.
     I guess I can be happy that hubby snuck up there in the tree and took these beautiful photos of her nest, with the gorgeous turquoise eggs in it. And they are some beautiful shots of her finished work, all perfectly placed in the branches, with the egg babies safely tucked inside.

       The rest of the story...after the bad storm with tornado winds that hit us suddenly here in Massachusetts the other day...is not good. :-( I think I told you that during the storm, with the wind and rain whipping the trees around in the backyard, the robin nest took a beating. Part of the nest was hanging sideways at one point, and mama robin was making all kinds of noise. We could hear her above the sound of the whipping winds.

        It doesn't look so perfectly sculptured anymore...

     ...and I guess you can also see...*sigh*...there's no eggs in it anymore either. :-(

     They're on the ground...

     ...all broken up. :-( It must have been a long drop from here...

     ...because now all that's left is remnants of eggs...

    And WARNING...if those didn't make you cry, this one might...it did me. :-(

      That makes two years in a row now that mama robin has chosen this tree to put her beautiful nest in. And two years in a row that a sudden storm in the backyard ripped up her work. :-( When I was thinking about it, I wondered how I would handle this kind of disaster if it had been my babies?!

    And it seems so sad that there's one egg on the ground that still looks like it's perfectly intact.

     We didn't dare touch it...Do robins sit on eggs that are on the ground?! We didn't know if there was still a chance for this little one or not...I can tell you though, that mama robin flew off yesterday afternoon and I haven't seen her again.
    As sad as this is, I've learned some unforgettable lessons from this robin in all of this. Lessons of tenacity, 'stick-to-a-tiveness', patience, courage, and...how to move on. She's probably somewhere right now preparing another nest. (In a safer spot I hope!) And I'm left with a feeling of sadness that I'm sure will lift in a couple of days...especially as I see mama robin swooping all over the backyard looking for food for her new babies. {That's what happened last year}
    Funny how life is full of lessons everywhere...even in disaster...If we take the time to learn them, I mean.

Take A Lesson From The Robin

I can learn a lesson
from the robins in the tree.
I can keep on going,
and let nothing bother me.

Watching from my window
as the mama made her nest,
I could see her hard work;
How she always gave her best.

Flying back and forth,
finding just the right nest twig.
If there was some music
it would be a great dance jig.

When the nest was perfect,
she was off to find a beau.
(Men today should take a clue,
Nest First!...The way to go!)

After Birdie dating,
(and she didn't have to beg!)
There was a lot of sitting
on a beautiful turquoise egg!

There actually were three
that she sat on...come what may!
I can take a lesson
from the patience of her day.

I thought of just how happy
those egg babies must have been.
Having mama always with them;
Sat on by a loving kin.

But then there was disaster!
A bad storm to my backyard.
Watching winds tear down her work...
emotionally hard.

As I heard her making noises
for her babies, all now dead,
I also learned a lesson;
from my heart now to my head.

The lesson is that life
sometimes takes a crooked turn,
and it will be about the way
you cope, and what you learn.

When the storm was over,
and her call no longer came,
She flew off to begin again.
A story all the same.

She'll build another nest,
and put her loss behind.
And I have learned the lesson,
and I'll live my life in kind.

Sometimes the past is daunting,
and sometimes you must move on.
There 'can' be happy future,
even though the past is gone.