Cherishing Moments

Coo COO coop
coo COO coop
coo COO coop

Hollow calls issue forth from the milky grey breast of a ring necked dove perched on the wire high above me. An answer echos back to him from the neighbor's tree. Coo COO coop...

Their exchange continues as I watch my girls run around in the grass of our backyard. The world around us is green and full of blossoms. White petals flutter down in a swirling shower with every breeze that passes through our apple trees. Overhead, seagulls circle and scream. They are pearly specks soaring in the sunlight high, high above us, their white wings flashing against the deep blue rain clouds which have not yet broken. The sky is brilliant, dazzling azure behind the woolly clouds. Laughter rings out across the grass and the air in which these giggles hang, to me forever suspended, is fresh and sweet. New life.

I pull back the wrap and gaze at the face of my baby, snuggled against my breast. Her cheek is smooth and pink, her lips pursed, as though ready for a kiss.

Nearby, her sisters play.

-"Oooh, 'ders a bug, it's a bug! Come 'yook at it!" Says the Little One, squatting on the ground.

"Oh, I think that's probably a nice bug. It won't hurt us. " The Wise One says matter-of-factly as she goes back to picking dandelion "foofs."

"Oooh, 'yook 'dat bug, Mommy, it not hurt us." The Little One runs to me, pointing. It is a harmless box-elder bug in the grass. "-It never never not hurt us?" She asks me after a moment, to be sure. Brow furrowed in her classic look of consternation. Dark hazel eyes so very serious.

"No," I say, "never never."

She runs off to explore some more and I sit back watching them with amusement.

The doves have flown off, but all around us Spring is still bursting -bursting forth like bird song. Creeping out of every crevice, over every mossy rock.

And I am thankful today.