Hummingbirds

There's a hummingbird nest in a tree in our front yard. My husband found it when he was trimming the tree and a branch he had cut down had a tiny nest attached to it. The birds were inside laying on their backs waiting for their mom to stuff their beaks with regurgitated nourishment. When the trimming was done, my husband secured the cut branch onto another branch in the tree and we waited to see if the mother would find her babies again. She did! Now, you can see my husband daily watching the nest through his binoculars making sure those baby birds are okay. Well, they are. They are now upright in the nest always looking and waiting for Mom to bring them food.

I've been watching the mother hummingbird. Suddenly, she's in sight, hovering around the tree. She darts around as if she doesn't know where the nest is. Then, she's hovering over her babies, opening her beak into theirs, doing her job. When she's done, she flies to another branch further away and rests. You don't often see a hummingbird resting. They are so tiny and slender. I marvel that the nest is only big enough for the two babies who are squeezed in tight. Once the babies fly away, the mother's job is done. Will she still see her babies? Will they come back to visit?

The mother hummingbird has been focused, building that nest, protecting those eggs, feeding those babies, and then what? Does the mother enjoy her new-found free time? Does she wonder...what next?

As a mom, you just do your job and then one day wonder...where did all that time go? I've been raising my family, which is exactly what I wanted to do with my time. But what about what I wanted to be when I grew up?

Continued tomorrow...