And now for something upbeat......

I bought Elle a bird book back in the spring and it has had a prominent place on the window ledge by the kitchen table ever since. Elle loves learning the names of the different birds and I have actually heard her singing the song of the white-throated sparrow. Sometimes she takes her book and her mini binoculars outside in search of the birds that she hears singing in the treetops. She told me that she would like to have a pet eagle! I'm not sure an eagle would do well in a cage in the house?! Can you imagine what you would have to feed an eagle? That is somewhere my mind does not go willingly.

I have noticed that the song birds have left our neck of the woods over the past couple of  weeks. They don't beckon me from sleep in the morning anymore. It's been so quiet in our yard, it's almost eerie. I didn't know that I would miss the warbling birdsong filling the air until it was gone. It has been troubling to me that they have disappeared. I wasn't ready for them to leave. To me songbirds are the epitome of joy. They wake in the morning and they just have to sing. It's inside them and they have to let it out. They are not trying to do be something else. They don't try to bark or moo or quack. These little songsters just give it all they got and let the world know they are there.

I have had the privilege of knowing a couple of human songbirds. They aren't singers per se but they are people that are full of joy. One of these people is my very own Mama. Songbirds love to laugh and spread a feeling of contentedness wherever they are. They are comfortable in their own skin and somehow rub that off on you when you are with them. You want to be around people like this because they seem to have a secret about life and you hope that if you keep company with them they will tell that secret to you too. I think that all of us could do with more laughter, contentment and joy in our lives. That's why these people are so attractive to us; they are somehow able to pull these things out of us. They have a gift. I also know when these people have disappeared from my life. I know when I have not had a good laugh in a long time. I know when I am feeling just out of sorts. I know when everything seems to be overwhelming. I know when I need a shot of joy. Sometimes the cure is connecting with a songbird.

Sometimes the cure is to be a songbird for someone else.
Giving joy means having joy.
Sing a song that is infectiously sparkly and invites others to sincere cheerfulness.