It's been a mad-whacked-out-crazy couple of months of apartment hunting, packing, moving, and watching nature kick the world's butt. And yet, when all is said and done, my world's settling into the warm months quite nicely. Of course, if you'd talked to me 12 hours ago before I found my keys that had been missing for a week buried amongst piles of stuff in my bedroom, I would have been singing a different tune.
But my optimistic side sees that as the final nail in the coffin of me not feeling like the place I've lived at for the past week with my lady love Kari is home. It is most emphatically my new home, in a way I've never felt before. Until now, home was the place where I grew up; a house long sold and re-occupied. Or maybe it was the house where I spent my teens and early 20s. But no, that's my Mom and Step-Dad's home, I just visit once in a while.
And strangely enough, my last apartment, where I lived for nearly 4 years, wasn't home, it was more of a place to hang my hat and pass out at the end of a night at the bar, with the exception of the deck out back.
But where I live now is starting to feel like home. Maybe it's because it's 5 minutes away from work, maybe it's because I've got the most awesome roommate ever... Or maybe it's that I finally have enough space not to feel like a cramped bachelor.
Anyway, what got me thinking about this most of all is the fact that, despite the lease being in mine and Kari's name, the apartment, or at least a small part of it, belongs to another creature.
Outside the bathroom window, in a hollowed out piece of a wooden eave, lives a family of some sort of chickadee or sparrow. It's oddly heartwarming listening to birdsong as you take a whizz! But that got me thinking about what it must be like for animals building a home to protect their family. They don't have the same foibles or silly aesthetic issues us humans do (except cats, of course). So, it got me thinking about writing a narrative on the duty of a bird towards its nest and it young.
May 9 2011
It's about time we got this nest going! The warmth can't last too long, the young must be birthed and cared for. Let's get some more grass stuffed into that corner...
Wow, can't deny that I KICK ASS at nest locations! This place is gorgeous, safe, and there's bugs EVERYWHERE! Wheeee! Let's sing for that one! Tweeweeweet!
Oh jeez, one of those big naked dogcats is looking at me again. I'm gonna cock my head and give it the "Whatchu got, punk?" look. That usually works, right? Yup, there it goes, lumbering away with the grace of a plummeting rock. Ha! Don't test me, jerk. I'll peck your brains out if you try anything around me! This is my HOME. This is mine because I'm nesting here. I don't know, nor do I care, what lived here before, I'm here now and that's what matters.
The mate is nestled over the eggs, giving the chicks her warmth. I hope they come soon, the excitement is killing me! Gotta hop around a bit I'm so excited here!
The sun's warming my feathers, and I'm filled with a pride that only comes to the new parent who's taken an empty space and made it a home for their spawn. I tilt my head to get more sunshine and sing my joy.
TWWWEEEETTWEEETTWWEEWEEWEWEWEEEETTTT!
