Robert

When I was young in the country, we had many pets. My mother rescued little animals. All the stray critters from miles around knew that if they came to our door, they would not be turned away.

One windy day in early summer, my mother found a wee robin that had taken a tumble from its nest. She put him in a shoe box on our kitchen counter and hand fed him raw burger and hard-boiled eggs. She built him a little nest and kept him warm with a light bulb. She named him "Robert."

Robert loved my mother. He thought she was his mother. Every spring and summer, for some years after his rescue, he would come back to her. He would hop along beside her while she worked in the garden.

I thought of Robert this week when I looked out of my kitchen window and saw a flock of happy, hoppy, robins, slurping up unsuspecting worms from the water-soaked soil.

I thought of my sweet mother and how happy she will be when spring is finally here.