“But How Did You Know?”

“Mommy?”

“Yes?”

“Did your mommy love you?”

“Oh yes, she loved me and my brothers and sisters very much.”

“But how did you know?”

The Light has come and gone many times since I was with my mother.  She was my world, and I was happy in the nest and wish I could’ve stayed there forever. There was always food, and there was warmth when she was there to share it.

I felt safe there, but I still cried.  I cried when I was hungry.  I cried because I was afraid when she was gone.  And I cried because I needed to stretch and strengthen my wings and there was no room to do it.  

So I left, and because I couldn’t fly very well, I fell to the hard ground.  I felt safe there, too, but I remembered what she told me about the dangers on the ground. I thought it would be less scary than the branches way up in the trees, but she told me one day I wouldn’t fear the branches because I would trust my wings.

The others left, too.  We don’t crowd the same nest anymore, but we are still in each other’s lives because we need each other, just like she told me we would.

Now I spend my days looking. I look because she told me to always be looking.  I see good and bad, and I know the difference because she taught me the difference.

I see the beauty in the Light as it comes and as it goes, and I remember watching it with her everyday.  She told me I was beautiful, too, and that I shouldn’t believe anyone who tried to tell me I wasn’t.

I see the bigger and faster of my kind, but I also see myself for who I am and I don’t try to be anyone else.  She would be happy that I listened when she told me to just be me.

I see others who need help because they are sick or hurt or weak or poor, and I know that the seeds I share with them tells them they are not alone. She shared her seed with me when I was weak, and now I share mine with them for her.

I see things that make me happy – more than that, I look for them.  She told me if I’m wearing a frown, I should turn it upside down, and I try to remember that when I am sad.

I hear singing in the world when the Light returns.  She told me we sing because we have songs.  I found my song and now I sing, too.

I wish it was warmer some days and cooler some others. I wish there were more of my kind here when I want to play, and fewer when I look for seeds. I wish there were stronger winds behind me, and weaker winds in front. But mostly I am grateful for the world around me just as she told me I should be.

“Mommy?”

“Yes?”

“Did your mommy love you?”

“Oh yes, she loved me and my brothers and sisters very much.”

“But how did you know?”

“I know because she showed me.”