I had a particularly frustrating day and was especially grouchy on the phone call home to let my husband know I was finally on my way. The brand-new car, less than two days old, had some kind of short in the seat belt and the signal screamed most of the way home. The title I had sent to the buyer of my old broken-down car was lost in the mail, dad wasn’t eating, and I couldn’t for the life of me seem to get anything accomplished despite numerous phone calls and good intentions.
All this melted away when my husband said he had a surprise for me on the back porch that he’d been protecting for hours. I peered out the French doors and there he was—a beautiful, shimmering, emerald green hummingbird with a bent wing. My guy said he had been injured, probably by the cats, and looked a lot better than he did several hours ago as he was now standing on his tiny legs and fluttering a bit.
We both decided it was time to give the tiny bird a chance to feel safer off the porch and carefully picked him up. His heart beat wildly and his little eyes searched frantically for something—a way to escape us? Or maybe the predicament he was in? We discussed where to place him, and a shaded hanging pot in the back of the yard seemed like a good idea. My husband said softly to me, “He’s struggling with life and death, trying to survive. Doesn’t that just put everything else into perspective?” Yes, my dear, it truly does.
We do our very best caregiving, most days. Some days we just respond to what happens around us. But we are THERE. No one can discount that. We make decisions based on what we know and feel is the right thing to do. What better gifts can we give than our time, attention, care, and understanding?
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