Observations

I watched her as I have watched hundreds before her. I watched her during her young courtship, then I watched her perform her marital dance. I watched her start her home and saw her work diligently hour after hour, day after day. It seemed she was tireless. But when one is on a mission that is the way work is done. And she was on a mission. She was working on her home. In and out, in and out all through the day, placing items here or there, then moving them to just the right place. She worked until she had it just the way she wanted it. Finally, this mission was finished.

She sat back and admired the work she had accomplished. She slowed down, but her work now is different. She is getting ready to bring her family into the world. I watched him as he would so lovingly bring her food then sit by her side for a while. Shortly he would be leaving again to perform his husbandly duty to support his life's mate and his future family.

Finally the little ones joined the world. Mom and Dad was such a proud couple. I watched them as they lovingly looked upon their little ones, admiring what a wonderful thing they had done by bringing their babies into the world. I watched them as they sheltered them from the storms of life, protecting them with their very own lives. I saw them fiercely fight for their little ones to keep anything or anyone from harming them.

Working as a team, the mother and father took turns with the daily routines of life. Sometimes he would watch over them and feed them. Then she would step in and perform her motherly duties. Sometimes she would be firm to get them to do what she knew was best for them. But she was also very gentle.

I watched this couple until their family was grown and on their own. I saw the mother caring for and feeding her little ones while they were too young to care for themselves. Then, as they grew, I watched her teaching them to fend for themselves.

This family worked together until it was time for the little ones to start their lives. How fast they grew up. It seems one day they were babies, then all at once adults.

The day finally came when I knew the young ones had started their own lives to face the world on their own, as their parents had done before them. I didn't see them any longer, or most likely, I didn't recognize them as grown adults.

Perhaps one of them could be the one that came back to the old home place to start his or her family. Maybe a son who brought his young bride back to raise a family in the old home place. Perhaps a daughter who enticed her young spouse to live in the old family home to raise their little ones.

I watched this second family go through the same rituals as the first.

What a lesson we could learn from these two pairs of robins.

See you next time in the "Korner."

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