Birds of the Concrete Islands

This blog entry will no doubt strike some as too metaphysical for their taste. Some might accuse me of getting too "granola crowd" on them.

But it's a risk I am willing to take and besides, people have thought far worse of me, so what the heck?

I did something new today on the way home from driving my children to school. Stuck at a red light and waiting to make a left hand turn, I glanced over at the concrete island that divided the road. It almost felt as if I was being compelled to take my eyes off the windshield and turn my glance to the median.

And what did I see? Two of the prettiest greenish brown colored birds I have ever seen. They were as tiny as finches and blended in so well into the rosemary bush they were nibbling from that it would have been easy to miss them.

The sight was literally astounding to me. Their colors were as brilliant and vivid as the scenes you see on HD televisions being demonstrated at the front of the electronics store.

The next concrete island had even more. The rosemary bushes were covered in these fascinating and beautiful creatures.

How long had they been there? How many times had I driven past them before without as much as a clue to their existence? A thousand times maybe?

Such is life itself, isn't it? We miss a thousand or more of these seemingly small wonders every day of our lives.

How many smiles from our children have we missed because we were watching the television instead of their faces? How many of us actually TASTE the food that we gobble down everyday like a chore that's reaching a deadline? Ever really feel the ground as you walk on it? Or hear the sounds just beyond the boom box by the bed?

Those glorious birds were there long before I decided to look over in their direction. But I had been too busy looking straight ahead or worrying about something insignificant or trying to balance the checkbook of my mind.

I'm glad I noticed them today. And I will look over at them again tomorrow.

And you should, too.

The birds of the Concrete Islands are wondering what has taken you so long.