The Seasons of the Robin

We have a playhouse in the backyard, built by my brother-in-law and husband one summer week years ago. We built it two stories tall, the ground floor is our shed and the second floor has a balcony that all the kids like to stand on and look over the world from. It also has a swing attached to one edge of the balcony's base and while possibly a danger (of swinging into the corner of the playhouse and losing a limb), it is my girls' favorite place to fight over all year round. Nearly every day in the summer and many times during the school year my youngest two run in the house from school and lace up their Nike'sand the race is on out to the swing. I am not proud to say that I usually try to pretend I have no idea what is going on because I SAID YOU ALL HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO SHARE!

Anyway, the fighting over the swing came to a screeching halt a few weeks ago when a male robin began making swooping menacing dives at whoever was on the swing. The dive bombing was particularly effective in ridding the swing of its little girl. An unfortunate side effect though, was that now my children think robins are scary predators. Instead of the welcomed harbinger of spring, they run and screech when they see the flash of orange. The male robin was just protecting the nest of bright blue eggs that he and his wife robin had built under one of the beams of the balcony.

I had a friend from kindergarten (33 years ago!) whose house I saw the inside of more often than my own for quite

a few summers growing up. Her dad wrote for a living. And at age 8, I only had a vague notion that it was something about birds. Last Christmas, when I saw her, she mentioned that her dad had recently written a book, The Seasons of the Robin by Don Grussing (it can be ordered on Amazon). I had picked it up and have been reading it off and on this spring (as a nice diversion from a big project I am working on). I have had the lovely opportunity to read about the world from a robin's point of view. Looking for the male and female robin as they go about their day with a nest that is now full of hungry growing birds, I have come to appreciate their territory and their yearly goal of raising a new set of robins to fill the morning and evening with song. This world is really full of amazing things big and small. Often, I am stunned at how little I notice yet how much beauty is just waiting to be had.

I feel especially proud to know the man who wrote this book.

Of course, I would love to have you read it, too.

Why not open your eyes a little more to the little things flitting around you?