When we venture out on a family bike ride, we end up splitting in two...
The littlest one and her mama head in one direction, her chubby feet sending pedals into a whirlwind of motion while her mama strolls beside, keeping pace. The others head off in an opposite direction, full speed ahead, trying to keep pace with the wind.
The littlest one makes the call to stop by the beach and walk barefoot in murky sand. She would have stayed there all afternoon dipping her toes in water and drawing her name in sand if her mama hadn't hastened her to a pond where bird spotting was promised, just a small pedal away.
It's the littlest one who crouched low near the pond's edge and whispered excitement as her mama's fingers flipped through the field guide. They'd seen this bird before, but couldn't remember its name. It's not found with the rest of the water fowl in this all-knowing book of birds, but all by itself in a small mid-section labelled "Rails and Coots". Yes, an American coot is what they had been looking straight at. The littlest one giggled happy, spotting grebes and blue-winged teals, too. Whispering and crouching low and snapping her perspective photos.
It was when they were peeking through cattails, spying on the Canada geese and the mallards, that the others came to join them, sending water fowl soaring. They joined loud and delighted wanting to snap photos too. They rode up and down the pathway, scurried out onto the dock, and after they thought they had seen it all, they turned and hurriedly pedalled away.
It was during the leaving that the husband shouted back that he's spotted the sign of a beaver, calling out to the littlest one and her mama to take time to look. They paused because the littlest one is good at that - slowing down, taking time to sit in the moment. And in the pausing she heard a rustle and looked down to see a plains garter snake moving through last year's fallen grasses by her feet. The others braked to turn back and see. {Nothing like a three foot snake to make one awe quiet and move slow.} The snake joined two friends and they slithered out of sight under grasses and branches.
And then the oldest one looks up and spots the hummingbird nest right in front of us. A little piece of wonder the whole time while we gazed low at snakes. The sign of the beaver, the colony of snakes, the pieced together nest, all almost missed, except for the slowing down.
To slow, to pause, to listen, to look - I keep thinking on these.
