Posts Tagged "worm"

Understanding Happiness and Rodney the Bird

Dear Kid,

You remember Rodney the Bird, don’t you? If not, here’s where you can read about him.

Happy is a Choice. Be HappyRodney sounds happier today. Maybe he’s just a late bloomer. Maybe the weather is better. Maybe his mother was less annoying today. Whatever the reason, I’m not one to let facts get in the way of a good story, so please rewind to Unhappy Rodney.

If you’re insufficiently awake to click to the backstory and then get back here to today’s post, I shall remind you. (I’m just that kind of Mom.)

Rodney is a bird who tends to hang out in front of our house singing in a halfhearted attempt to attract a mate. Rodney does not have his heart in his song. Or a song in his heart, for that matter.

Maybe Rodney really just wants to hang out wherever bachelor birds hang out doing whatever bachelor birds do. Or maybe Rodney is more of a night owl and is only singing in the morning because of peer pressure (for the record, Rodney does not sound like an owl of any variety). Or maybe Rodney is the avian equivalent of a black-clad, pierced teenager, drooping around quoting obscure poetry and always sounding pathetic. I don’t know. Rodney isn’t really one to confide in humans.

What I do know is that there is a flow in doing things we love and “chunkiness” in doing things we don’t. When we’re doing something we love, time flies by. When we’re doing something we love, our heart and our heads are involved—we look for ways to learn more, do more, be more. When we’re doing something we don’t want to do, time slogs by at a snail’s pace. We know because we check the clock watch computer phone every 42 seconds. We find thousands of excuses to not do the work.

We resort to all kinds of stalling tactics (including cleaning). We do the minimum viable amount and flop back, exhausted from all that effort.

At times, we all have to do things we’d rather not do (including cleaning). But the trick to happiness is finding a way to spend more time do the things we love and less time doing the things we don’t.

It’s how you know you’ve found the right major in college. It’s how you know you’ve found the right topic for a blog. And it’s how you know you should stop singing and go find a nice worm for breakfast.

Good luck, Rodney

Love, Mom

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Coyote Encounter of the Front Yard Kind

Coyote. The kind that run across your front lawn are scarier. DearKidLoveMom.comDear Kid,

“Grab the dog!”

I am sitting on the ground having a particularly unpleasant argument with a weed about its eviction notice. Booker is near me introducing himself to a worm I uncovered for him. The worm is silent. Booker licks it.

When Dad yells, I dive for the puppy, grabbing his collar and holding on. Think tackling a receiver just before a spectacular diving touch down. Booker ignores me and paws the worm.

A coyote runs across our property, takes a hard left at the water meter, and dashes down the front lawn and across the street, disappearing into the neighbor’s backyard.

I let go of Booker who carefully picks up the worm and trots a few feet away to play with his new friend.

It takes about 3 seconds for him to register Scent of Coyote.

Then all smell breaks loose. The worm is completely ignored (you’re definitely going to want to tune in tomorrow for the second worm story).

Booker dashes around in circles, then backtracks the scent. Dad thinks this is hilarious since the puppy is going the wrong way.

Then, carefully covering the ground in a slight zigzag pattern, Booker begins to follow his nose. Which leads him across our lawn, takes a hard left at the water meter, and pulls him across the street and into the neighbor’s backyard. His nose picks up speed as it goes, so by the time he disappears those little legs are moving at the Speed of the Chase.

Coyotes are not known for playing nicely with small doggies.

Dad heads across the street and to retrieve the pup. After a few minutes, Booker trots back looking prouder of himself than the time he rolled in a dead bird. He did not catch the coyote, but he caught the scent which apparently is good enough for him.

The coyote is presumably doing coyote things that hopefully do not involve small dogs in the neighborhood. The worm is presumably happily enjoying his new location on our lawn (you really are going to want to hear tomorrow’s worm story). Booker’s nose is taking a well-deserved nap. So is the rest of him. The garden still has plenty of weeds, but fewer than it did yesterday.

Love, Mom

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