Blue Jay Family

5-11-06

Matt and I were turning the corner from his studio, when all of a sudden, he stopped because he thought he saw a stranded bird in the street. We backed up and did see it sitting there helpless, so we decided to try and help! After getting out of the car, I looked up in the tree above head and saw the nest it must have fallen out of. I told matt to try to just aid it back to the side and if he could, pick it up, so we could set it on the grass. Well, in the middle of realizing it didn't want to be picked up, Matt got dive-bombed by the mother or father Blue Jay! It was circling a swooping down and nipped Matt on the head once. We were just trying to help, but could understand the parents concern, knowing it's child was on the ground, unable to fly, but also unable to aid it back up into the tree. They had to be on alert watch-out patrol! So we stepped back to observe the situation. The father, I am thinking, kept watch on us and even swooped at Matt a couple more times. The young bird, unable to fly, was still out in the street. One car did round the corner and Matt was quick to step out and direct it around the helpless creature. It finally started going toward the curb and eventually made it's way up onto the grass. We were so glad. I think it was just a very stressful time in those two parent Blue Jay's lives. We were watching all that was going on in that tree and there was a lot! We could spot the nest...where there was one baby's head poking out. Eventually, it was also trying to hop up onto other surrounding branches. These babies were not tiny, they were small birds getting to the point where they were venturing out and learning new things and gaining enough courage to try and learn to fly. I have no idea thought how that works for the first time. I mean, they are so far up and not ever having attempted it before, I just wonder how their first time goes!? So, high up on the other side of the tree, we spotted another baby. He was just up there, I guess checking things out trying to gain courage! At first we didn't see him, but realized it after we wondered why the adult birds were flying around so quickly to all these different points in the tree. From the nest, to high up (where the other baby was) to the ground to check on the fallen baby, to the near-by light post for surveillance of the area I am assuming. It was crazy, lots of action! Then, both the parents went up for surveillance and the father flew across the street all of a sudden. He began dive-bombing like crazy. Quickly, we realized he was doing it to a cat sitting there. It was funny to see, because the cat would reach up and try to get him and he swooped down, but never could. The cat must have gotten annoyed or freaked out because he suddenly just took off. I was actually about to get out and try to shoo the cat off as soon as I realized why the bird was over there doing that. The papa bird was trying to scare it away before it realized there was one of their babies across the street vulnerable on the ground. Those two parents were doing such a great job, protecting their young, I am glad I could pay this tribute to them. My only piece of advice to them would be to not build their nest on a limb that overhung the street. I am sure they probably had their reasons though.

Global Night Commute

4-29-06

This journal entry is to tell about an experience. I was told about a non-profit called Invisible Children about African Children in Uganda who are living in constant fear of being abducted into the Rebel Army. The Rebels would try to abduct the young children, ages 5-12 (because at that age, they were still so young and impressionable) and then take and brainwash them to kill others. They would abduct at night, so every night these Ugandan children would walk miles to their downtown bus stops or hospitals and sleep all together to try and stay protected. Three guys from San Diego went over to Uganda and made a documentary about the Invisible Children and once back, held screenings all over the US to raise awareness and it worked! At the screenings, they announced and promoted the Global Night Commute on April 29th, which encouraged ordinary Americans and people from all over the world to take part in something that could potentially change these "invisible" children's lives forever. The problem is that they are getting no aid from their government. So, the point of the Global Night Commute was to meet and walk together as a large group (in Dallas, I would say we had about 600-700 people walking) and walk about a mile or so to an area and sleep there overnight. Once we all got to our location, we sat and wrote letters to our state senators to encourage them to help us make a difference by bringing this horrific situation to our president's attention. And also, by writing a letter to President Bush, explaining what we were doing that night and asking for his help to try to encourage the Ugandan President to take greater responsibility for this current crisis. I encourage you all to write letters too! The night of April 29th over 70,000 letters were written to the President along with 70,000 to state senators. These numbers should make an impact and we thought it would be so cool if we could see some sort of change for the better due to this Global Night Commute and it's efforts! There is always still time though if anyone else cares to write a letter. Go to their website to become more educated about what is going on... www.invisiblechildren.com The night we commuted was great. We met all wearing yellow shirts to show our numbers. It was not intended to be any sort of protest, rather just a movement. We walked the distance quietly along the sidewalk and we got to answer people's questions about what we were doing, along the way. Again spreading awareness. Once, there we wrote our letters and made artwork for the children and then laid our heads down, under the same open sky they do each and every night, and thought about what we were doing out there compared to what they have to do every night, as we fell asleep.

Little old man

2-27-06

This morning, I was running into the post office and as I parked, I noticed this elderly man walking slowly up to the door. Since there is always such a long line inside, I tend to try to walk faster to beat people to the door, if the situation permits itself. Not this time though, are you kidding? This little old man, just getting along one step at a time. Instead, I walked slowly behind him. He must have noticed my reflection behind him when he reached the glass door because as soon as he opened it, he stepped inside and held the door for me. First I said, “oh, go ahead” feeling bad for assuming a place in line before him. But, after nothing happened, I said, “ Oh, thank you!” and walked in. I went to get in line and what seemed like a minute later he finally made it to the door where the line formed. He was evidently in no hurry. Which is a lesson I learned from the precious, frail old man in the pale yellow shirt and bright red cardigan. Well, it gets better, we all stood there in line for a while. I noticed he had just one 6”x9” envelope to mail, as did I. I also noticed he had a coffee mug in his hand. I hadn’t thought anything of it until he sort of swirled it around and I heard the change jingle within. How cute, he needed to buy postage so he just brought along his “cup full of change” and it was only about half full. I can just imagine where that mug, collecting coins, sets on a table or desk somewhere where he lives. A couple times, he would swirl it around, I guess to see what larger coins he had hiding inside!

Cows and a Donkey

2-20-06

Matt and I were driving down to Austin and on our way, at about Hillsboro, Matt said, “Hey, look at these cows up here on the left and the one donkey by the fence”. Then he said, “Poor thing, he probably thinks to himself, why am I different?” I thought to myself, actually he probably doesn’t even realize he’s any different. There’s no mirror out there… So we concluded, he’s the donkey that thinks he’s a cow! See it makes everything better!!

The Little Boy in the Choir

2-16-06

To make a long story a little shorter, I was on a mission to find a particular book while on vacation in Colorado. After much searching for a bookstore, we finally ended up at a bustling Barnes and Noble on a Thursday night. The book I wanted was there and not only was it soft back (which is what I was looking for) but it was 20% off for some reason. Without hesitation, I picked it up and began heading for the checkout line. On my way, I noticed children’s voices singing to my left. Out of curiosity, I went over to see if I could see what the large crowd was about. Once there, I saw a group of children aligned nicely singing Biblical songs in the coffee shop portion of the large Barnes and Noble. All the tables had been resituated and parents were huddled all around proudly watching their child sing in front of the crowds! I stood there for a moment and looked at all the children’s faces, which tell a thousand words. I spotted one specifically, a little boy who was up there playing along, but kind of held his head a little lower than the rest. He seemed shy. He wore a hockey jersey over jeans and a cap. All of a sudden, the song had concluded and the children dispersed every which way. In the confusion, the little boy attempted making his way out but in doing so, sort of ran into another little girl. He let her go and then he went on his way. Because I’d had my eye on him, I was curious to see his parents for whatever reason. As he broke away from the crowd, he skid for a quick second on his “skate shoes” you know the ones with the wheels built into them. That allowed a sigh of relief because I felt, for a moment like, “ oh, this kid is okay, he has some cool shoes and he fits in”. Then, as he approached his parents, I was let back down; he rolled up and leaned on the trashcan, in the back that they had been stationed at, amongst the crowd. I was hoping they would immediately stop the conversation they were engaged in and bend down to congratulate him, but they didn’t. In fact, at first, they didn’t even acknowledge his presences. He simply leaned against the trashcan with his elbows on top and sunk his head into his arms. I was watching and what seemed like longer than it probably was, his mom finally said, “ oh, good job honey” and his dad said, “way to go” and patted his shoulder. He barely looked up and said thanks but was obviously not happy. So that made me feel kind of sorry for the little boy, I mean I don’t know the circumstances, but seeing the way that situation played out seemed sad and sure didn’t uplift that child. So, then I continued on to the checkout line and as I passed the front door, I was given a yellow flyer saying if I bought anything tonight 25% of the sales would be donated to Rooney Ranch Elementary School. I was excited and said, “Oh, were those the children I just hear singing?” and the nice teacher said, “yes!” So, it was great, I was able to contribute. I was already planning to buy the book in my hand.

11-26-05
Birthday Bird

This journal is about an interesting incident which occurred the morning of my birthday. I was blow drying my hair in the bathroom of my parents house in Galisteo, New Mexico (our travel destination for Thanksgiving), when all of the sudden I heard a knock on the door. I opened it to see my mom standing there with a tiny, still songbird in her hand, and she said “Happy Birthday Mary Emma” as she looked down at the bird. I was shocked to see she was holding a little live bird. She then told me it had flown into the glass door so it was stunned right then. We took it to the kitchen and put it on a towel to comfort it. The little guy’s chest was starting to slow in it’s beating pattern, his eyes were looking worse and it kind of tilted to one side a little. Then a minute or so passed and I was afraid he might come back to life and fly away inside, so we placed him on the table outside. Matt came out and I stroked his little back feathers and his head and he was so so sweet. A Birthday Bird just for me! Now I just had to make sure that he did not die on us. All of the sudden he flew up and away. My mom and I smiled and cheered, but the excitement didn’t last but a few seconds because the little bird flew straight into a huge pot of Mullein Stalks. They are these organic things my dad has displayed out on the portal, but they are real prickly and the bird got stuck in them in mid flight. I screamed and eventually started crying because I felt so bad for the poor little bird, he was having such a hard time. My mom instantly went to try and relieve him but it spooked him as she tried to help and he attempted to get away and all my mom ended up with was a handful of tail feathers and the bird fell down into the huge pot. So now my mom is saying, “oh, no, he can’t fly without his tail feathers!” We took all the stalks out, got a flashlight and my mom reached down to try and help the bird out. All he was doing was trying to get away from my mom’s hand at this point. Eventually, she grabbed a hold of him but before she could finish her sentence of, “Should I let him go?” he flew from her hands, successfully, out away from the house and perched himself upon a branch in a tree about fifteen feet away! We were all so relieved he flew again and he still had some of his under tail feathers to help guide him!

10-1-05
Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah

It has been a little while since this experience, but I still wanted to include it and I also had to guess on the date it took place. Anyway, I was actually watching Oprah and the show was all about people overcoming enormous struggles from incidents that had taken place in their lives. The person who impacted me the most was Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah! He was a boy born in Ghana, Africa with no leg (which normally children are simply discarded or abandoned in these types of situations) and Emmanuel’s father actually did leave him, but his mother believed her son should be granted all the same opportunities as anyone else so she lived her life fighting for him! She would carry him 3 miles to and from school every day. She eventually became too ill to care for him in these ways. So Emmanuel had to be the care-taker for his family and he would walk with his crutches to the capital city, Accra and sit on a box and shine shoes all day. He proved he had an especially strong work ethic, as he only made $2 a day!” People in this part of the world believe that when a person is handicapped or disabled they believe that is a punishment from a deity.”Emmanuel chose, though, to change the perceptions and
successfully did so as he defied centuries of oppression. He did NOT consider his isability to be an inability. When he was in school, he wanted the same opportunities as the others and desired to play soccer with the children, But they did not want a handicap to play with them, so he used some of the money he made shining shoes and bought the soccer balls to play with, but said you can only use these if I am allowed to play with you. And they let him. Then, as he grew even older, he began sending out grant requests not for money or special privileges but, simply for a bicycle so he could prove his nation wrong again. He received his bicycle and proceeded to ride all the way across the 400 mile wide country of Ghana, with only one real leg. There was a comment made, “He thinks that way,” almost like Forrest Gump, because people and children would chase after him with encouraging words. He hoped they would say ,”good, what you are bringing is a very good idea.” Within the community, he started an organization that raised money to build makeshift wheelchairs for all the disabled. They were hard plastic
chairs with bicycle tires strapped to them. “You would see the smile on their faces and you could imagine what went on in their hearts!” They said he had nothing to give, but gave everything, and changed a nation forever! After that, a leader said he believed Emmanuel was not going to limit his influence to just Ghana, but that he was going to spread his message to the rest of the world! And he has already started. When asked he says he gets all his strength from his mother, who is no longer living! And the biggest lesson I learned from this was not to look at someone who is disabled and say, “oh my God, thank God I am not like him.” but rather, to look at them and say ,”Oh my God, perhaps I can become more like them!” and it is all because people, like Emmanual are living solely with their hearts! I love it!

09-28-05
A Place to Call Home

The other day I was watching the local news and there was a segment on this 15 and-a-half year old African American boy named Tim, who was in need to be adopted into a loving home. He had grown up in foster care since birth. It was so sad to me because this boy looked so shy and insecure. He was fairly tall and lanky, wore glasses and
appeared so lonely, from the inside out. I had tears when I saw this “poor” boy on the TV, wishing I had the ability to invite him into our home when they reanounced his need to be adopted, but I knew, unfortunately, this was not a realistic thought I was having. I also cried when retelling the story to Matt in the line at Subway because I just feel so bad for him. I feel like it is just not fair. I know that life is not always fair, but this subject is so powerful to me. Matt said that if I am reacting this way to what I saw, that he was sure there was someone else out there that felt the same amount of love for Tim, who had the
resources and could take him in. That made me feel a little better. I think the part that made it the hardest to take was when Tim said that he wanted to be a Police man some day and that he has always admired Police men because they have so much courage. At first this seemed odd to hear him say because at first I wouldn’ think of this boy with a lot of courage but I guess seeing the life he’s led, he has bound to have built up a ton of courage. He also said, “When I turn 18, and am out on my own, I want to have a place (a home) to come back to for comfort.” At that point I just could not imagine not having
a place to call home, to “come back to for comfort”. I just pray that Tim finds a home with a family that has so much love for him, more than he could have imagined and that gives him the life that he deserves!

08-27-05
Boyscout

I had another experience, Matt and I were running errands and he dropped me off at Office Max to return something while he went and looked around in Best Buy. When I was through, I walked down to Best Buy. As I rounded the sidewalk, I noticed a little Boy Scout,about 8 years old, dressed in his beige uniform with freckles and a burr hair cut. He seemed like he would be a shy boy, but today, he stood proud. With his dad
behind him, he had his table set up selling popcorn to support the Boy Scouts of America! Right when I noticed him, I immediately thought,”oh no, how am I going to turn this little boy down?” I was going to have to walk right past him at his stand and there was no one else around to be a distraction. As I got closer, we began to make eye contact and as soon as I approached him, he asked, “Would you like to buy some
popcorn?” I said, “Oh, that is okay”, because I can’t just spend money on anything. But a split second later I found myself turning around asking how much it cost. As he saw me turn, he asked if I’d like to try a sample. I said, That's okay,”as he told me it costs $17 for a box and $8 for a canister. I said, “okay, well I have to meet someone in Best Buy, but thank you." I should have never asked how much they cost because I
never intended on buying any, I just felt so bad for the little boy, just out there, set up, trying to sell his popcorn. I told Matt and as we left Best Buy, we looked down the walk and saw him still just standing there. My heart goes out to people in situations like these. I love that I feel this way, but I feel guilty for not supporting his cause, He had polite sell tactics and was doing it all by himself, I just didn’t have $8, much less $17 to spend on
popcorn that afternoon! I do hope he made some good sells in the end though. He was a good kid,from what I could tell, and deserved it.

08-16-05
Bird in Flight

Today I was driving down Mockingbird, coming back from getting pizza. With my window rolled down I noticed a bird flying above me. As I looked out my window, he was up only about 8 feet and about 5 feet behind. I slowed to his pace, and enjoyed his company. He was heading straight, down the middle of the street and would flap his wings for a minute and then soar, flap his wings and then soar. It was so relaxing and calming. I could see all the details on his little body. He was just on his way somewhere and I was honored just to be able to share that block or two of distance with him, whether he realized it or not. I hope he did though. I’ll probably remember him for a long time.