This morning, Little Chirp was off his game. That is rare. In contrast, Brainy Bird was up on his own this morning, and he beat his little brother to the kitchen for the first time this school year. Little Chirp took over lunch making a couple of years ago, and he normally has the lunches almost finished, and some sort of light breakfast in the making before Brainy Bird pops over from the garage apartment.
Brainy Bird only has half a day of school today, so he did not need a lunch. In light of this, Little Chirp decided to forego lunch making and asked for a couple of dollars to buy lunch at school.
Little Chirp and I hopped into the car for the drive to his school, leaving Brainy Bird standing happily in the front yard waiting on his own ride. Brainy Bird’s high school has a tradition where seniors get to paint a parking space in the school parking lot. They get to do this in the morning, and then they get to leave school around lunch time. They are asked to carpool to school as there is limited parking for cars with all of the parking spaces being painted. Brainy Bird is more than a little excited about today.
It is hard to believe that it has only been 3 years. Brainy Bird has gone from a kid that avoided any sort of school and/or social activity to being an organizer of the carpooling arrangements and lunch afterwards. Seeing him up early and excited about his second senior activity of the year made me happy this morning.
I returned home from dropping Little Chirp at school to find that Brainy Bird’s ride must have picked him up. I had a cup of coffee in my hand. Little Chirp not only did not make his lunch, he also did not make his breakfast. This gave us an excuse to stop off at the Mom and Pop donut shop on our way to school. I got my usual black coffee.
I started to walk inside the house and start my work day as I normally would, but Potatoe hopped out of the car, after tagging along on Little Chirp’s ride to school, and he headed down the driveway. I guess Potatoe noticed what a nice day it is. My sweet Potatoe, who normally follows me everywhere, invited me to follow him.
I had my sneakers on, but I still had the cup of coffee in hand, so instead of a morning run, we went for a morning walk. How many times have I run down this street in the past year with my head phones on and Potatoe running along beside me? Today, I discovered all that I miss as I pass through the neighborhood quickly and with my headphones on.
Daybreak gave us just enough light to see our surrounding without over shadowing the waning crescent moon. We are just days away from a new moon. The morning air was cool and gentle. Potatoe liked having extra time to explore as we walked instead of running.
Without my headphones, I noticed the sounds of the birds chirping, and a slight rustling of squirrels scurrying through the branches of the trees. A little kitty meowed gently at the door of my neighbors house. I could hear dogs barking, and the faint sound of cars on the road that runs along the side of my neighborhood.
I passed by a house that has polite, adorable children that I sometimes rest at when running, so that they can pet Potatoe. I saw one of the kiddos sitting at their breakfast table. I walked on as the sunrise began to fill the dark sky with a red and orange glow. I passed by the house of a happy couple that always says hi as Potatoe and I run by, and I could see them sitting together eating breakfast. I thought to myself, “maybe the secret to having a happy home is starting the day together with breakfast.”
I noticed all of the fall and Halloween decorations in the neighborhood. About half of the houses in the neighborhood have some sort of festive décor in their yards. I enjoyed the smell of freshly cut grass, and cool fall air. I noticed that nearly every house has beautiful flowers planted in their yards that are still in full bloom. I said hi to a neighbor that I had never seen before.
I thought about the day ahead, and I thought about all of the happy things in my life, and I said a prayer of thanks.
It is the little things in life…