Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A Moment


One very cold winter day I was sitting in my office working on the computer and I heard a loud thump on the window facing the front of the house. I went outside to investigate. I walked along the front of the house behind the shrubbery and lying on the ground beside the window was a small bird convulsing. I immediately picked up the bird; he was already cold from shock. I cupped the bird in my hands to try and keep him warm. The birds eyes were glazed over and one of his legs was dangling. I kept him warm in my hands for a while and he seemed better. So I thought I'd put the bird in one of the shrubs to recover. I set the bird on a branch and went inside for my camera. I came back outside and the bird was still on the branch but barely able to hang on. Even with me standing close, the bird made no effort to fly away.



It was so cold I thought for sure he would just stay there in shock and die. So I again picked up the bird and brought him inside while I tried to think what to do. The poor little bird made no movement at all, just a blank stare. I decided to get a big fluffy towel and wrap it around the bird. Meanwhile I was blowing my warm breath on the bird trying to warm him up as much as I could. After a half an hour or so the birds body was warmer and he seemed a bit brighter, but still made no attempt to get away. I wrapped the bird in the towel leaving a small opening for his head and propped the towel in one of the shrubs out front. I left the bird there for a while. When I came back the bird was still inside the towel, but he was alive. I came back about half an hour later and peered inside the towel and the bird was gone.

This little bird symbolizes hope to me. How a moment in life can change my day, change how I feel, change how I see life. After I typed this post I was trying to think of a title and thought A Moment would be a good title. For some reason I decided to do a search of a moment and came up with the video above of A Moment by Phil Hansen.

10 comments:

  1. Life is a moment sometimes- thanks for sharing yours and the video-
    Wow-

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  2. What a cool story--Hope the bird is off and going somewhere out there!

    That video was sooo cool! I wonder if he sketches out a rough image first?

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  3. What a special post. Thanks. I am enjoying exploring his other work.

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  4. wow. what a powerful post. thanks for sharing such a reflective moment.

    when the light is just right we get birds who fly into our large cabin windows (we've tried the bird stickers you can put on the glass). thankfully, most of the time they are just stunned. we keep the stunned birds outside and gently put them on a towel until they can fly away on their own. we keep an eye out for the neighborhood cats because the birds are very vulnerable.

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  5. I've always thought birds were a spirit connection for us. So many folks I know have felt the 'presence' of a loved one that had just passed through a bird.
    Who knows who you helped -- I'm sure it was a blessing for both of you.
    And isn't it amazing how a moment can change everything -- thanks for such a wonderful reminder of that.

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  6. So, I skipped the video so I could find out the fate of the bird and then backtracked to the video - seriously, I felt tears well because of this post...for so many reasons.

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  7. Hi Meredith, isn't that the way it goes, sometimes a moment is a whole lot.

    Hi Ben, I was kind of wondering that myself, it looked like it was all random, but I wonder.

    Hi Jerry, he is kind of off the wall, but original and definitely trying to make some statements.

    Hi Cindy, I think this was the same phenomena, the bird just needed to recover from being knocked out.

    Hi Judy, I like the thought the bird may be someone's spirit. Over the years I've had several types of bird encounters and they've all stuck in my mind, perhaps this is the reason why. Thanks for that thought.

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  8. Hi Cynthia, the video was really an aside and coincidental to the little bird story. Your response has made me re-reflect and realize even more the significance of the moment of this little bird. Thank you.

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  9. Such a thoughtful post. Thanks for taking the time to
    care for this little creature and the resulting message in the outcome.

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  10. Hi Mary, I'm a sucker for all the little creatures; I even carry spiders outside; thanks for stopping by.

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