Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Mama Bird

It's easy for me to think that blogging is not for me.  I live an ordinary life.  I have an ordinary job as a 4th grade teacher.  I'm the mother to two ordinary little boys.  I have a routine.  It's not exciting.

But then, when I stop to think, I realize that one thing I'm preaching to my students is that you can write about ANYTHING.  When you write a personal narrative, you can choose to write it about a small event that may have seemed meaningless at that moment, but perhaps it made you realize something significant.  You can write poetry about literally ANYTHING, serious, funny, real, fake...

So I'm doing that today.  I'm taking something seemingly ordinary, and I'm writing about it.

Today, we were blessed enough to be able to take our kids outside for recess.  The weather has been rainy or REALLY cold for us southerners (yes, down in the 40s!!).  So, we have all had just about enough of Just Dance for inside recess.

As I was standing there monitoring the kids as they were playing, I noticed a congregation forming over near the fence.  If you know anything about 9-10 year olds, congregations are rarely a good thing.
So, being the excellent monitor that I am, I walked over there (actually I was really just nosey and wanted to see what was grabbing their attention and make sure nobody was being hurt).  As a came near to the several kids who were couching down, I began to hear a REALLY loud noise.  It was a constant kind of screeching.  One kid noticed me coming and starting saying, "Mrs. Pena!!  Look!!!  The mama bird laid eggs!!"

I immediately cleared them all away.  Luckily the eggs were on the OTHER side of the fence.  They were fairly large for this bird, but they were just lying on a little dirt dug out spot in the grass.  No nest.  Poor Mama bird was the one making the racket.  She was frantically pacing near the eggs, squawking with all her might trying to warn off these intruders!!  Daddy was in the background, ready to join in if needed.

I started talking to Mama and told her to calm down, that she was doing a fantastic job and that I wouldn't let any of these kiddos hurt her babies.  She chirped back a few times, still uneasy.  I stood a few feet away with my back to the bird and eggs now and made sure the students left her alone.  As some of the boys would some running near the fence again due to their ever so competitive football game, she would begin squawking again!  It warmed my heart to see this little Mama doing everything she could to protect these babies.  I would turn to her and tell her not to worry.  To reassure her that her efforts were paying off.  She eventually calmed down enough to walk back over to the eggs and lie down on them.

I couldn't help myself by turning and talking to her a little more, encouraging her on and admiring nature's way of doing what needs to be done to survive and protect.

It made me think of my own efforts as a mom.  How many times am I doing all I can to be the mama that I want to be?  How many times have I became frightened that I was messing up and going to ruin my kids?  Or felt like I was just ready to give up because this being a mama business is no easy task? Then...how many times have I had another mama swoop in and reassure me that my efforts are not in vain?  To encourage me on?  To calm me down?  Or really to come and help me out?

Thank you to each and every woman who has poured into me and let me know that I am a good Mama.  We are a community and we all need to encourage one another on. Because Lord knows this is the hardest job ANY woman will ever have.


1 comment:

  1. I'd say you had an extraordinary and wonderful day connecting as a momma. It's the ordinary events that connect all our lives and that are most worthy of our focus.

    ReplyDelete

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