We peer into the Robin’s nest to find that the strong little birds have fledged. They developed their wings for flight. A fledgling is the strangest phenomenon: it’s the word for that transitional stage between hatching and leaving the nest for good.
How exciting! How wonderful to observe fluffy birds hopping about, testing their flight feathers and feeding on their own.
When I began Live with Flair, I would have seen myself and you as the fledglings and challenged us all to test out our feather, to risk it all, to fly. I would have talked about expanding our worlds and kicking against that tangle of a nest that held us back.
But today? I see myself as the mama bird. I see myself as the one left on the branch who watches and encourages and then moves on to care for the next brood. She keeps building new projects. I see myself as a feeder of the young. I see myself as fluffing other feathers to encourage that beautiful, brave flight.
My daughter and I pull back from that empty nest. She’s looking carefully at the hopping Robins on the lawn. I’m back at the nest, and I keep thinking, “Well done! Well done!”