A recent storm blew this nest and two robin's eggs from one of our trees.  The KingofHearts found them a couple of days later.   We're pretty sure that's not a Robin's nest, but it's an amazing piece of construction and fascinating, so we brought it in the house for the kids to inspect.  The KoH brought the eggs in a few hours later and handed them to me.  I didn't quite know what to do with them; it seems a shame to throw them out.  So not wanting them to break (because that'd probably smell unpleasant), I just put them in the nest.



The little, parentless eggs have distressed The Caterpillar greatly and even though we've explained that the little birds inside the eggs would have to have died in the days the eggs were outside unattended - before we even found them - she is still looking for ways to care for them, "just in case." 

I thought we'd gotten past the inevitable realization; I had a long talk with her yesterday.   But tonight, we found her saying a little prayer over the eggs and covering them with the plastic pieces the bird had woven into the bottom of the nest.  

"What are you doing?"

"Maybe if I keep them warm, they'll hatch. Maybe."  

I was sitting on the couch a little later and looked up to catch The Shortlings skulking around and whispering in hushed tones, which is never good. So I got up to investigate and found this:


 I've struggled lately with my outlook on life and the world in general.   In recent years, I've become more and more conflicted between wanting to stay informed about the world around me and needing to stay sane because it's all just so damn depressing.  I completely stopped watching the news on television because I simply cannot abide any more anger and uncharitable opinions from talking heads and politicians who cut a wide swath entire groups of people with just a few stereotypical adjectives... as if they've met every one.  I've even sworn off reading the entire internet once weekly as is my habit because there just isn't much good out there. Facebook? Ugh. Facebook has just made me realize that most of my friends are jerks. But this picture above? This is one of the pros of having and being around kids.  They remind you that there is still some good in the world and if you work very hard, you can nurture it.  Because if a little girl can care this much about two little eggs, maybe we can all move toward caring about people some day soon.  OK, probably not soon.  But at least for now? This makes me happy.