THE BEE WHO THINKS SHE IS A BIRD

 We have this cute little bird house we keep on our patio

We didn’t know who would use it, perhaps a chickadee or a crow

It’s too small for a pelican or an eagle to make a den

so, we thought, perhaps a blue jay, a cardinal or a wren.

One day to our surprise we saw something in the birdhouse lurking about…

On closer inspection the hole was almost completely covered and there was something peeking out.

I think, at first she was startled and that’s what made her stir…

“I wonder if she’s angry.” Deborah asked, “that we’re disturbing her.”

We weren’t sure what we were looking at…she was very hard to see

“She can’t be angry." I replied. “She’s staying here rent free!”

When we finally realized what she was…we thought it a bit absurd…

There’s a bee living inside our birdhouse…that thinks she is a bird.

So we have us a bee lodger…who now peeks out to say hello

from the safety of a birdhouse where she’s free to come and go.

We are anxious to see what happens…our imagination has been spurred

by this little bee we can hardly see..who thinks she is a bird.

She’s been living there for weeks now…her life protected, secure and stable

and I’m pretty sure, by the wire I see, that she’s stealing our cable.

And the other day when she had a packaged delivered I smiled at our new family paradigm…

wondering how a bee in a birdhouse has access to Amazon Prime!

But we don’t mind her idiosyncrasies as the lines between us have become a little blurred…

by the bee who lives in our back yard…who thinks she is a bird.

THE LONG WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT

 When it comes to politics, as in nature…as in life…we would be a fool

to think every question has a simple answer…

to think here are no exceptions to a rule.

Look at all the issues facing us today…each side knows the other’s way of thinking is medieval 

Each side knows they are right and they are good…and the other side is evil.

Republicans know they are fair and just and honorable in their beliefs

as do the democrats…

But nothing we believe is that uncomplicated…It’s never as simple as that.

There is a story behind every one of us…a reason we think and act the way we do

and it has taken a lifetime of experiences for us to form our point of view…

I cannot dismiss or banish you…just because the two of us don’t agree.

Any more, just because we don’t see eye to eye, that you can dismiss or banish me.

So how do we end this stalemate…as well as our mutual hatred, anger and fear?

If we want to be a great country…where do we go from here?

I believe we should be doing something…we should have been doing all along…

Look to nature for our inspiration because nature will never steer us wrong.

When we’re so very rigid in what we believe…in what we vehemently proclaim….

Nature reminds us life is all about change…that nothing ever stays the same.

That’s why we have four seasons…because after the cold and snow that Winter brings

once the ice begins to melt…the flowers can bloom again in Spring.

We are in the midst of a cold, cold winter…the only way out would be if and when…

we bring back the Springtime and allow our flowers to bloom again.

It doesn’t take a genius, an expert…a prodigy…or a whiz

to understand how nothing in nature is perfect…yet everything in nature is.

I’m not saying it will be easy to blend our beliefs and hopes and dreams

because if we’ve learned anything from nature it’s that nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

But, I for one, am tired of the winter…I’m ready for the birds again to sing…

I’m ready for the sun to shine, the ice to melt and the flowers to bloom again in Spring.

A NOTE FROM AN OCTOPUJS

 Dear humans,

I am an octopus and I’m unhappy with how you humans think you’re so great.

You might say I have a bone to pick with you…

which would be true if I weren’t an invertebrate.

I want you to know I am more than just a cephalopod

with 8 tentacles who spits out a little ink

for I too have a brain, in fact with nine of them…

and I am much smarter than you think

I have learned to use different tools and I solve problems too

and what if all those times you think you’re watching me…

I’ve been watching you.

You humans think with your one heart you’re as loving as can be…

Well think again mere humans…for every octopus has three.

So the next time you’re feeling superior…

the next time you think that you’re so great

remember…most animals in the world live in the ocean…

and most, like me, are invertebrates.

Please do not lament these facts…

do not become a sourpuss…

I’m sure you have some good qualities too…

Sincerely,

The Octopus

P. S. I know you’re proud of your ability to write…

and to be fair I think that’s great

but in the time it takes you to write one letter…

I’ve already written eight!

WORRY

 Have you noticed when we give our love to someone it doesn’t take long to find

that with the joy and happiness that accompany love…worry is never far behind.

Worry attaches itself to us as parents the moment we become our child’s keeper

and though we can put our worry down for nap…we find she’s a light sleeper.

We worry when they’re babies…we worry when they crawl

We worry will they ever walk…and when they do…we worry they might fall.

It doesn’t matter how old our children grow…how independent…or how strong

wherever they may travel in life…our worries go along.

Which makes one stop and wonder….as we worry…as we wait…

where does all our worry come from…where does it originate?

I remember when my daughter got her driver’s license…

how awkward it made me feel…

I didn’t seem to worry much…unless I saw her behind the wheel.

I remember being in my car driving home from work one day

when I saw her drive up beside me…wave…then quickly speed away.

I imagine she thought I was waving back…but I wasn’t…I wanted here to arrive alive

so I was waving while yelling for her to slow down…telling her how to drive.

It was only when I arrived home…and pulled in behind my daughter’s Jeep

that I finally breathed a sigh of relief and put my worry back to sleep.

Jump ahead to when my grandson got his license

and how awkward it made my daughter feel

when she yelled out driving directions to him as he sat behind the wheel.

"I don’t think he heard a word I said.” she said…as he left our house that day

but I did see him smile and and wave to her as he happily sped away.

And seeing the worry on my daughters face as her son quickly drove away…

I finally realized where worry comes from…

it’s in our DNA.

ONCE UPON A TIME

It is a story for the ages that generations will long repeat

for when it comes to these two lovers...it was their destiny to meet

Two ordinary people…nothing more and nothing less.

He was not a knight in shining armor,

she was not a damsel in distress.

But from the moment they joined together…from that wondrous day

oh the castles they would build and the dragons they would slay.

Together they faced them all…monsters…ogres…vandals

wicked witches…big bad wolves…there was nothing they couldn’t handle.

And through all their years…through all their tears

through all their joys and sorrows and laughter…

from the moment they first met they lived happily ever after.

And every time their story is repeated…

it ends the same way…

without fail:

Sometimes in the middle of an ordinary life…

love gives you a fairy tale.

A MOTHER'S LULLABY

 Our love of music begins early…as in our mother’s womb we lie

and from somewhere in the distance we hear a muffled lullaby.

Soon we are soothed within her arms as she gently rocks us in the den

and we fall asleep as we hear her sing that lullaby again.

And we hear music all around us in our nursery where we lie…

We are like the bird who learns to sing before she spreads her wings to fly.

And even as we grow older we find music everywhere

In the oceans, in the trees, in the mountains, in the air.

Music is so vital to us that once we’ve spread our wings and flown

we sing, we write and we create instruments to make music of our own.

So now when nature plays her music…her symphonies…her songs

we not only have the ability to listen…we also play…and sing along.

Through the years our taste in music changes as we change…as we grow

but music still accompanies us…wherever we may go.

There is one type of music, however, as other notes rearrange

that remains with us forever…that will never alter…never change.

For when it’s time to leave this Earth…when it’s our turn to say goodbye…

we close our eyes one last time…listening to our mother’s lullaby.

THE WAY BACK

 When I was young we had a station wagon and we never gave our parents flak

when, before safety regulations came along, they let us ride in the way back.

On any trip, when it came to my sister and me…the way back is where you’d find us.

Laughing together as we played games, fought and waved at cars behind us.

The way back was the most fun part of the car and if you need more proof:

We’d roll into each other around the corners

and on big bumps…our heads would hit the roof!

In the way back we pretended not to hear when Dad yelled,

“Kids…stop your fighting…don’t make me stop this car…I don’t want to hear a peep!”

In the way back on long trips it was easy to fall asleep.

The way back was built for imagining…all we had to do was close our eyes

and the way back became a fort, a jungle or a princess’s castle in the sky.

From the way back as we battled dragons or pirates on the seven seas

we thought we were just having fun…we never realized we were making memories.

But that’s exactly what we were doing…in the way back…don’t you see

before the station wagon was replaced by the minivan and SUV.

Oh, my children and grandchildren, strapped in seatbelts,

still imagined…still closed their eyes…

as their seats became forts or jungles or a princess castle in the sky.

And on long trips after all that imagining sometimes they’d fall asleep

and they still pretended not to hear me when I yelled,

“Kids…stop your fighting…don’t make me stop this car…I don’t want to hear a peep!”

But it’s not the same as it was for me…

for whatever story their imagination chooses…

The magic of their ride comes without the bumps or bruises.

That’s probably why as I watched my children and grandchildren grow up

In the car…as they played…then fought…then played again…

I’d smile…remembering when I was their age

in the way back…

way back when.