I woke up on January 1, 2021, knowing the year would bring a great deal of change. My heart felt hopeful and cautiously optimistic. Like everyone else, I worried what the year may bring after I rang in the 2020 new year absolutely believing it was my year. Still, I could not help being hopeful. I believed the year would bring great things.
I also knew that life would change forever this year as Brainy Bird would go off to college, and Little Chirp and I would need to adjust to a life of two humans instead of three. Little Chirp and I have done a good, actually a great job, of getting ready for life just the two of us. What I did not realize is that we would go from being a family of seven to a family four in just a few short weeks.
Last week, we lost Storme. This morning, we lost my precious Pumpkine. We now know that a coyote is terrorizing our neighborhood. In just three short weeks, Brainy Bird is off to college. God has given me so much to be thankful for, and I intend to focus on all that He blesses our family with, yet just for a moment, I want to reflect on an era that has come to a seemingly abrupt end.
I loved waking up in the morning and watching all three kitties barrel into the house as if they have not eaten in days, yet they had a feast the night before. I already miss Storme rubbing against my legs, and then my head I leaned down to scoop the kitty food into the bowls. I miss the sight of little Pumpkine waiting so patiently for her food.
With little tummies stuffed, they would then begin the process of finding their spots for their morning naps. Pumpkine and Storme would fight for the spot on my chair, so I would pull up another chair. Most of the time, they would settle down together on the chair, taking turns hopping into my lap when I took my hands of the keyboard for a video conference.
Above all, I will miss the sight of all four of the fur kids snuggled together. The four have lived in harmony and loved and looked out for one another since the day that they met. I will deeply miss sitting down to watch a movie with the birds. Trooper and Pumpkine would snuggle up in Brainy Bird’s lap, and of course Little Chirp was always Storme’s person. Potatoe would lay far enough in my lap to not leave room for a kitty.
Today marks the first day of a vacation that I spent nearly a year planning. This will be the last family vacation before Brainy Bird leaves for college, and it becomes next impossible to get a week together on the calendar as Brainy Bird’s future summers become filled with internships and studying abroad. When I planned this week, I had no idea the amount of change that I would need to prepare my heart for. Obviously, this is not what I hoped for, but this is what life holds.
Today marks the end of an era. I plan to spend the week embracing every minute with my birds as we embark on the next era of our lives. This is not to say my heart is not sad. I know the only place to live is the present. We cannot change the past, and we do not know what the future holds.