For fifteen minutes this evening, I got to watch a bird family. The mama and dad were flying and chirping up a storm. The baby would come out into the sunlight stretch and wobble, then go back in for cover. The baby still had one tuft of down on its head. Just when I thought the family was to retired for the night, the fledgling hopped further out on the branch than I had seen it do previously. The baby bird flapped its wings, lifted off the branch, went up and then down and up again. It flew away. Just like that–an empty nest. No hugs or tears. I looked at my kids and wondered…how will they take flight.
Z to Infinity 