Second Chance

From 2008 to 2020, for a dozen years or so, my wife and I were consumed with the care of our parents.

We considered it a privilege to do this, but it was hard, and in time, we became exhausted.

Then a strange thing happened.

A baby bird fell from the sky.

It happened on a Friday night.

We had one of these torrential Texas Gulf Coast storms.

Lots of limbs came down, even a few trees.

Early next morning, my wife got up and headed down to Brazoria County to check on her mother.

I stayed back to clean up from the storm.

I was working in the far back part of the yard when I noticed this little white blob in the middle of a mud tunnel.

I thought it was a golf ball.

I took a stick and reached in there.

It was a baby bird.

and the right side of its head was swollen.

I looked up in the pine tree there and realized it must have fallen at least 30 or 40 feet.

The bird was dead, so I turned to go back to work.

And that's when I heard this sound, beep, beep.

I started fumbling for my beeper, which is funny.

I hadn't carried a beeper in years.

And then I realized that little bird isn't as dead as I thought.

Now, I had stuff to do.

I didn't want to waste my day taking care of a stupid little bird, especially one that was going to die anyway.

But I didn't think he should die here in the mud.

So next thing I know, I've got a ladder.

I'm climbing up the pine tree.

From 2008 to 2020, for a dozen years or so, my wife and I were consumed with the care of our parents.

We considered it a privilege to do this, but it was hard, and in time, we became exhausted.

Then a strange thing happened.

A baby bird fell from the sky.

It happened on a Friday night.

We had one of these torrential Texas Gulf Coast storms.

Lots of limbs came down, even a few trees.

Early next morning, my wife got up and headed down to Brazoria County to check on her mother.

I stayed back to clean up from the storm.

I was working in the far back part of the yard when I noticed this little white blob in the middle of a mud tunnel.

I thought it was a golf ball.

I took a stick and reached in there.

It was a baby bird.

and the right side of its head was swollen.

I looked up in the pine tree there and realized it must have fallen at least 30 or 40 feet.

The bird was dead, so I turned to go back to work.

And that's when I heard this sound, beep, beep.

I started fumbling for my beeper, which is funny.

I hadn't carried a beeper in years.

And then I realized that little bird isn't as dead as I thought.

Now, I had stuff to do.

I didn't want to waste my day taking care of a stupid little bird, especially one that was going to die anyway.

But I didn't think he should die here in the mud.

So next thing I know, I've got a ladder.

I'm climbing up the pine tree.