Bird leaves Nest

I was pushing carts again today. Riveting as always... I'll skip the boring shit, and tell you about something kind of cool that I witnessed, instead.

I was headed back out of the building and towards the parking lot when I passed one of the giant red poles outside of the facade. Adjacent to this red post, where the bottom roof and the cement above the post meet, was a bird nest which I had noticed a couple months back. My introduction with this bird's nest was less than friendly, as I had to dodge the Mother Bird's disposal of shit plummeting towards my shoulder (true story). But over these last couple months, I've been able to see the eggs turn to little babies, who've then rented the nest to a new mother bird and a new set of blue eggs. Nature's cool, huh? (shout to Annalise Peck lol).

Today when I was walking past the post near the bird's nest, I saw a little girl (probably about 6 years old, cute little thing with glasses and a ponytail) point up at the nest and say "Daddy, look! Birdies!" I've heard this from many children over the past two months... it's usually followed by a non-chalant reply from their dad saying "that's cool sweetie" while they continue to move through the automatic doors and near the carts, not even glancing up at the nest. Today, though, the dad stopped, looked up at the nest, and said "Wow, sweetheart that is so cool! Let's take a picture!"

I don't know why, but that kind of struck a chord with me. My whole time growing up, I was given the "oh Jack, you'll understand when you're older" that I'm sure EVERY kid received on numerous occasions. Most of my drawings/essays were stored up in neat little manila folders which now reside in a quasi-receptacle in our basement storage room. We were always given the absent "that's cool" as children, and it just quickly becomes indoctrinated in our brains that adults DON'T GIVE A SHIT what you have to say. I think, to an extent, I still haven't escaped that ominous cloud.

My parents still look at me as an adolescent, and society still gives me less capacity for credibility. It's a struggle. As a parent, I'm gonna be more like that dad I saw today at Target. I'm gonna take the time to recognize the imagination of my kid, and I'm gonna commemorate their works. I think kids are some of the most adventurous and imaginative inhabitants of this world, and there's a lot that can be taken from what they have to say and from vicinities they've explored.

-Jack