Birds and Bunnies

There's a book someone gave me that contains daily meditations for working through grief.  I don't read it every day...not yet at least.  But there are times when I pick it up to read the message for the day or flip to a particular page.

Today I decided to flip back to read the April 22nd entry--the day Ed passed.  It begins "Joy comes from simple and natural things,..."  "Let us for a few moments lay aside our grieving and notice, as though nothing else existed, the world around us....  Let's give ourselves a break by taking note of the springtime ... the birds come back, the rabbits appears on the lawn."

This spoke to me because there are two things that I have noticed almost daily since Ed's passing.  The first is the variety of birds in my yard.  I've had bluebirds, goldfinches, orioles, and cardinals.  And of course there are mourning doves, chickadees, cowbirds, and robins.  The hummingbird is back and I've noticed the robins are nesting again in the bush outside the kitchen window.

The bunnies have also been ever present since the spring.  There are at least two that I notice often.  I don't know if it's the same two or not, but they are frequent visitors in the yard.  I usually see them in the morning and again when I come home from work.  And they case each other around the yard and I laugh when I see them jumping over each other and running in circles.

So I am taking note of the birds and the rabbits...they are simple things and they do bring me a simple joy.  And today the sun is shining again.  Finally the rain has stopped.  And so I will take a walk outside this morning, look for more birds and rabbits, and let the sun shine on my face.

Simple joy...