The 4:45 Bird
I live in the country. There are birds. Don't get me wrong. I love birds. They're amazing little creatures. However, every morning at 4:45, a single bird starts singing outside my window. 4:45 a.m . The sun hasn't even begun to come up. It's still dark. I'm trying to sleep, for goodness sake! But he sings. After a while, another bird answers him. As dawn sneaks up, more birds join the birdy choir. By the time the sky is well lit, tweets and whistles fill the air. This morning (shortly after Bird 1 began tweeting), I thought about What It Means. This one bird's song. So here are my deep thoughts (these are rare occurrences, so pay attention!). Bird 1 sings alone. He sits in a dark tree and no one is listening to his song. He sings anyway. He makes music because he likes to, because it's what he was meant to do . If he had to sing alone all day, he would. But then the other birds hear him. They open thei...