and I am gratful

Whenever I start to feel stress creeping into my body, making my heart beat a little too fast, I stop what I'm doing and head outside.  There is always a cure for stress in my backyard.  This time of year, there is a pine tree with a yellow-crown night heron's nest situated on one of the lower branches.  From my own perch on the dock below this branch, I have been privileged to watch two eggs produce a pair of breathtakingly beautiful little birds.  At dusk, I watch them come out to the edge of the nest where they stand in wait of a breeze that unleashes that instinct to stretch first one wing then the other, testing their strength for the day they will fill those wings with wind and fly for the first time.  I hope I'm there to witness this marvel, but even if I'm not, my heart has slowed and peace now courses through my veins.