21 January 2017

Dear Heidi,

My morning has been very Holy Ghost because of you.  I woke up at 4:00 with your painting in my head.  It was all finished.  In the foreground was a cat behind a bush.  It was all set to spring out upon a little bird that was pecking in the grass.  On a branch above the cat was another little bird with its mouth wide open singing out a warning to its friend.

The title of your painting was, “Are You Listening?”

Thoughts came pouring into my mind, so I got up and started writing.  It’s now 7:00.  Here is a story that you can think about illustrating as a book someday.  It’s a conversation between me and Tabitha.

Are You Listening?

“Grandpa, how old are you?”

“Why, next month I’ll be 70.  Is that old?”

“Yeah, that’s lots older than me.  I’m five.  What’s it like to be old?”

“Well, Sweetheart, it’s the greatest thing in the world.  I’ve learned some wonderful things while I’ve been growing old.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, all sorts of things—important things.  Like listening to children.  Do you know that I once sold a horse to your mother for 17-cents?  Your mother was just your age when she taught me the importance of listening to your children.  One day I was reading my newspaper when she put 17 pennies into my hand.  I asked, ‘What’s this for?’

“It’s to pay for Lady.  You said I could buy her if I gave you all my money.”

“I realized that your mother had been trying to talk to me while I was reading the paper, and I hadn’t been listening.  I just pretended to hear her, and kept answering, ‘Uh-huh.’  The next thing I knew, I had sold my horse!”

“Did you let her keep it?”

“Yes, I did.  From then on, every time I saw Lady, it was a reminder that nothing is more important than listening to little people like you.”

“What else do you listen to?”

“Birds.  I learn a lot from listening to birds.”

“Birds!?  What can you learn from birds?”

“You can learn how to be happy.  Come out on the porch with me.  If we sit here in the dark for just a few minutes we’ll hear a great horned owl hoot.  Do you hear that?  That’s the male asking his wife where she is.  And that’s her answering.  Do you notice how his voice is lower-pitched than hers?  That’s how you tell them apart.  They never leave this area.  They keep track of each other.  They always tell each other where they are.  They stay married for life, and they work together to raise their children.  He brings her food while she keeps the eggs warm in their nest, and he even takes his turn sitting on them.  I’ve learned a lot from listening to owls.  I’ve learned that if you want to be happy in life, you have to be as wise as an owl.”

“Are birds smart, Grandpa?”

“Oh, very smart.  Once I was watching a covey of quail eating the bird seed that I put under the juniper tree for them.  A stellar’s jay slipped in just above them and made a sound that was just like the call that a red-tailed hawk would make.  I was amazed.  The quails’ heads all jerked up in alarm.  They were ready to fly.  Red-tailed hawks eat quail.  The stellar’s jay knew that.  He was smart.  He was trying to scare the quail away from the bird seed so that he could fly down and have it for himself.  He could even make himself sound exactly like a hawk!  But the quail were smart, too.  They were startled and scared when they first heard the hawk, but they quickly realized it was just the jay trying to fool them again, and went on eating.  The jay made the call again and again, but the quail just ignored him.

“I learned from the jay and the quail that you can’t believe everything that you hear.  You have to know who is doing the talking and whether they have your interests at heart or whether they’re trying to fool you.”

“What else have you learned from listening to birds, Grandpa?”

“I’ve learned how to appreciate my world.  Early tomorrow morning, before you get out of bed, I want you to just lie there and listen.  It’s spring.  All the birds have come back, and they’re talking to each other.  See if you can tell the robins from the meadowlarks and the red-winged blackbirds.  Listen for the killdeer down by the pond.  And listen to the swallows in the nest outside your door.  Try to imagine what they’re saying.”

“The swallows wake me up every morning.”

“Isn’t it a wonderful sound?  They raise two sets of babies each year.  It’s a lot of work.  Since we have a pond by the house, we should have lots of mosquitoes, but we don’t.  Do you know why?”

“Is it because of the swallows?”

“Yes, it is!  We have three swallow nests, and the mama swallows and daddy swallows catch every mosquito that hatches in the pond.  I’m always sad when the swallows leave every fall.”

“It’s quiet in the morning when the swallows leave.”

“Yes, the whole world gets quiet in the fall.  You can learn from listening to the quiet, too.  In the fall all the songbirds leave, and everything feels different.  If you go outside, it’s cool, the air is still, and if you listen, you can’t hear anything.  It’s a sacred feeling.  When it’s quiet, that’s when God talks to you.”

“Does God really talk to you, Grandpa?”

“All the time—if I’m listening.  Too many people don’t listen.  If you’re not listening, you won’t hear Him.  It’s like the two birds and the cat that I watched the other day.  One bird was looking for seeds in the lawn.  A cat was crouched behind a bush.  It was all ready to spring out on the bird when another bird up on a branch warned the bird on the ground.  Most people wouldn’t have even heard that little bird, but its friend had trained itself to listen for that small voice.  If you train yourself to listen, you’ll feel a still, small voice inside warning you of danger, and telling you the good things you should do.”

“I like robins.  They’re pretty.  One has a nest in the lilac bush outside my window, and its eggs are blue!

“What’s your favorite bird, Grandpa?”

“Quail.  I like how they work together.  People should be more like quail.  They stay close together in a covey, or flock.  They’re all looking for seeds, but they never fight with each other.  While everyone else is pecking around on the ground, one cock quail, and then another, is up on a fence post standing guard, and watching out for hawks and cats.  He keeps up a gentle murmur in his throat that tells the others that all is well.  Listen to them.  It’s a wonderful sound.  They take turns.  We need to watch out for each other, not fight, and take turns like quail do.”

“I thought you’d say that your favorite birds were the geese.”

“Oh, I like them, too.  Amy and Shawn Geese come to our pond every spring.  I know that it’s the same pair because I can get within a dozen feet of them before they swim away.  When they first came, Shawn Geese stayed on the pond all day, while Amy Geese sat on their eggs in the nest that they had somewhere over in the woods.  It takes five weeks for goose eggs to hatch.  Shawn waited on the pond all day and listened for Amy.  Every morning and evening she’d carefully cover up her eggs, and then fly to the pond.  As she came she’d start honking, saying, ‘Here I come, Shawn.’

“That’s what he’d been waiting and listening for.  He was always so excited to have his mate come.  He immediately lifted into the air and flew to meet her, honking excitedly as he went.  It always makes me happy to see how happy they are to see each other.  That’s the same kind of marriage your Grandma and I have.

“Amy and Shawn have come to our pond every year for 16 years.  The first three years were sad, though, because they never raised a baby.  I wondered why.  I knew about where their nest was over in the woods, so one day when Amy flew to the pond to get a drink and a quick bite to eat, I slipped over into the woods and sat down under a tree.  In a few minutes Amy and Shawn flew in.  They landed in the meadow, and looked all about.  When they were sure that no one was watching, Amy flew up into the top of a broken-off cottonwood tree.  That’s where her nest was.  It was on the top of that 30-foot-tall snag!

“Amy uncovered her eggs, and sat down.  Shawn flew back to the pond, and then I knew why they were never able to raise babies.  It was because a raccoon always climbed up there and found the nest each year.  I went to town, bought a big sheet of tin, wrapped it around the tree, and nailed it in place.  That year Amy and Shawn brought six little goslings to the pond.  Those little geese had to jump out of a 30-foot-tall tree!  Amy and Shawn were very proud and protective of their babies.  I was proud, too.  I’m glad that I watched and listened to them so that I could help them.”

“You’re a good listener, Grandpa.”

“So are you.  You’ve been listening to your old Grandpa.

“And there’s one more thing I want you to listen to and never forget.  It’s this:

(Hug)  I love you.”