Overheard in... my backyard

…The sound of a robin splashing around in my birdbath.

Usually this sound would make me smile, but in this case it only made me mad; as in angry but also as in a little crazy. “Why aren’t you keeping your eggs warm?” I shouted through the closed window. All day I had watched and
waited for that bird to get back on her nest…. I had only seen her there in passing over the last couple of days and more often I found her hopping around on my grass, sitting on the fence or playing in the birdbath.

What kind of mommy bird was this? I wondered. Aren’t they supposed to stay stationed on their eggs till they hatch? She had certainly seemed attentive for the first few days. But then, as the weather changed to typical May rain, it seemed she gave up on them and now only sits on them when convenient.

Apparently nobody warned Mrs. Robin that mommyhood is difficult. Sometimes we have to deal with awful weather  (metaphorically and literally). My daughter has an unreasonable fear that the rain means our house will flood. Since we are located on a hill, I know this is entirely unlikely. Still, every time it rains, we have to have this same
discussion. This I want to tell the bird, is mommyhood.

In my blog on Monday I wrote about how last weekend our Girl Scout troop took a trip to the beach. After a late night on Saturday, my daughter’s week started out rocky, so that by Tuesday I was on the phone with her teacher talking about how to build her flexibility and resiliency (two buzz words moms do not want to hear from a teacher)… This is mommyhood.

No one would describe my daughter as a cuddler, but as the end of the school year approaches, for some reason she has become extra clingy. She wants me with her all the time and has started having trouble going to school, having a babysitter, or letting me go to the bathroom by myself… This is mommyhood.

Every mother knows that we sign up for the bad weather along with the good. At the same time I know that my daughter’s childhood is short and more important than anything I will ever do. We don’t get to pick and choose what we deal with… certainly we can’t just go off and play around in a pool when things get rough. Thankfully, though, the good times often see us through the bad. 
 
If I could, I would go outside and sit on those eggs myself. But I know nature has its own way, and though confused, I will wait and watch how this plays out. In the meantime, however, I’m moving the birdbath to the garage.