Menagerie

Menagerie.
Pretty much explains my thoughts today.
Let's start here. This little guy.
Well, not actually *this* one, but a mocking bird....we have lots of them here. They are a pretty nondescript plain looking bird. No bright colors, No interesting markings really. Pretty grey.
Typically, I adore their singing. They mock other bird calls, and change their tune literally every 5 seconds when they are singing - but you know what? They don't have their own song, but the songs they sing are beautiful, and if you get the chance to watch one sing, they do so with such energy. A few of ours here, sit on the roof tops, and I watch them when I hang the laundry or out here in our kusco dogwood outside my office window, and they sing and sing and sing...not just chirp while they jump around, or squawk like a robin, they sing like they have the aria solo in a grand opera. They do so for minutes on end. I love to watch them actually. When you look at them when they are singing, they seem to sing with their whole body. Now, one thing you also have to know about mockingbirds is that they are one of the few birds that will sing in the dark. Which can also make them quite annoying no matter how beautiful their song.
I was just commenting to someone the other day that there really must be some truth to that old Disney term "tritterpated" - when the wise old owl was explaining to Bambi why all the forest creatures were so happily singing and jumping around the forest. In the spring, here, the birds are always up early, singing and singing and singing. But I did notice as summer wears on their morning songs dwindle and we are no longer awoken in the wee hours of the am to grumble curse and shut the window. They get very quiet. As much as I complain in the spring, I start to miss the sound in the summer.
Until this crazy nutso warmed up weather messes with their body clocks and they once again sing early, in the case of one like this one this morning 2:48 AM to be exact, not a good thing when the lady of the house has not slept well for three days (look out there may be a "perimenapause" rant coming in the near future).
But as I always do, try to find a lesson in everything. There is a lesson to learn from the mocking bird. No matter what your song, be it your own, or a song you have heard somewhere, taken to heart, and are just repeating - sing.....sing your all, sing happily...sing out loud, sing proud, sing like you have the starring role. You don't need to be special to have a song that someone may want to hear. Just sing your song. We all have one. All of them are beautiful.