Optimistic Birds

I must be getting old, because I actually caught myself enjoying bird watching the other day.

Firstly, in case you don't know, I'm hanging in Minnesota for a bit. Marcus and I are finishing our book, What Women Never Tell You, without all the distractions that Los Angeles provides. Plus, we wanted to spend some time with my family.

Secondly, my awareness of birds in Los Angeles was limited to seagulls at the beach, crows outside my window (very early on a Sunday morning CAAAaaah! CAAAaaah!), and once in a while a nightingale, I think, in the evenings when I lived in Los Feliz. I've lived pretty much all over Los Angeles, and that's what I remember of the birds around me.

But here, we have bright-red cardinals and royal-blue blue-jays hanging outside the very large front window of my family home. The home where I grew up, actually.

Not only do they hang out for us to watch, munching on the bird-feeder my Dad put out. They sing and seem to be having a good time. The weather here isn't exactly balmy yet. In the last ten days, we've had sunny, 65° days, and we've had crisp, 40° days. More of the latter. Oh, and sometimes with rain. It actually snowed here in mid-April!

Even though I grew up in Minnesota, my blood thinned after all my years in Southern California. In other words, I'd put on a coat at 55° in LA.

But what struck me about these birds, is that they're so optimistic.

I realize I'm anthropomorphizing a bit.

And I'm sure the bird population here has nothing to do with their sunny outlook on life. Literally, sunny. They're trusting the sun will eventually come to northern Minnesota and stay, at least for a few months.

I'm sure it's some long-ingrained bird instinct, passed on and cultivated over many, many generations of aviary genetics.

But to me and my non-bird-brain, they just seem optimistic.

So, I'm taking a queue from the birds. Today, I'm going to just trust that the sun will come out tomorrow. I'm going to be optimistic that things will just work out. Optimistic that mother nature, father time, and sister christian actually know what they're doing and I can just follow my instincts.

Which is what, I guess, I'm doing here.

Know that I miss and love all my cherished friends in California (or wherever else my friends might be). I'm writing, singing, bird watching, and doing all I can to stay optimistic.