Long Walks

On our walk to the opening of the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago, Sam came upon a newborn baby bird laying dead on the sidewalk in town. Whether this bird fell out of it's nest or was pushed was open to a brief, irrelevant debate. I found a stick and  managed to scrape a small hole in a nearby patch of dirt, placed a rock over it and we continued on our way. 

Sam thanked me, which for some reason, caught me by surprise.

The subject of this baby bird came up once or twice thought the day - not so much as in conversation but more just a stray comment followed by comforting. 

Later that day, on our evening walk, we came upon another one. This one, like the other, all pick skin, all beak and feet. As with the one in the morning, I again found a stick and managed to dig a small hole and bury in a shallow grave, topped with a small stone.

We continued on our walk - with a little trepidation, hoping that would be the end of it.

Sam and I look forward to our evening walks but this experience, twice in one day, gave us pause - at least for a little while. We were hoping this would be the end of it. 

We pushed through and so far at least, no more dead baby birds lay in our paths. 

From time to time though, the subject of these poor little things has come up - but briefly and less and less so with the distance of time. 

Sometimes, maybe all the time, that's all you can do. Just keep pushing forward- push forward and hopefully get some distance. But still think of those baby birds from time to time, and know it's ok.