Hope

I went up to the peafowl house today, as always with their food and crackers they love so much.
Diana, one of my females was still over in her corner sitting on her 6 eggs (I think she stole 2 from Garbo). Every year for the past 4 years Diana has made a nest and sat on her eggs with no result in chicks. She is such a wonderful Mother, rolling her eggs to a fine polish, she had a wonderful mate that died at a very young age. Then along came Sir Beanie who was too young last year and I think she just laid too early this year.
I knelt down to remove the eggs and Diana became very up set. I backed her off the eggs and as I picked one up, I felt the warmth of that mothers love...How could I remove her hope? These six eggs she has tended to and sat on for over a month...How could I just take them away?
I put the egg back and she immediately pushed her eggs back under her warm body...filled with hope that maybe tomorrow a chick will be there instead.
It isn't going to happen. Their gestation is only 28 days....and I guess I will end up taking one egg at a time for the next few days until they are gone. Will she lay more? Perhaps and maybe these will be fertile. I think she just laid these too early when it was still too cold.
I learned something from that bird today. Hope is a very strong feeling that should not be taken for granted.Emily Dickinson wrote: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tunes without the words, and never stops at all.
Everything that breathes has hope in there heart for something. For Diana it is the hope of a chick someday. For me it is the Hope that I will achieve my goals...in weight loss that I will remain healthy, change my life style and live better. For the Butterfly project, that I will continue to hear happy stories about how they bring happiness into the lives of those who receive them, Hope that more volunteers will offer to make them and hope that the project lives on long after I'm gone. I read Hope, when a new person enters the program with so many questions and hope for their future. I know what it is to feel hopeless and it is worse then any physical pain and more difficult to remedy. You feel like you have reached rock bottom and there is no where else to turn, no help and no hope for the future. It's the place I had visited right before my surgery and I pray I never go there again. My heart breaks at the thought that there are so many people who will visit that very same place, for the very same reason and not know where to turn for the answers that will breathe a breath of HOPE back into their bodies and minds. I have been blessed with being given the opportunity, through the Mentors program, to give back, to hold out a hand and perhaps some hope....to someone else...Someone just like my Diana who only hopes for one small miracle to help change their life...
Yup , I sure did learn a lot from that bird today.......