Every morning, when I get up, I open the curtains next to my bed and look out my window to the oval planter where my bird baths are located.
In early spring, robins arrive signaling the start of a new breeding season. For the next three months until the start of summer in June, there is a lot of activity at those bird baths.
When their young are grown enough to leave their nexts, the robins, with their young take off for the South to spend the winter. They will return the following year in early spring.
Then there are those robins who can't make the annual return trip to spend their winter in the South. These robins are too old to make the trip. They stay here in the North, where they were born. The robin in this video is one such robin. This will probably be his/her winter. We all die. Even robins.
Which brings to my mind. Pat and I have planned our trip to Palm Springs this February. We haven't been to Palm Springs since 2019. We used to go every year in February for Modernism Week. Little did we know when we returned from our last trip in February of 2019 that COVID would basically close the country down. Then in 2021 Bill had his strokes and for the next three years I was his full-time caregiver.
Now COVID is behind us and Bill has died. Pat and I are able to travel again. However, now there are some significant differences.
My income has been cut in half because I no longer work at the hotel nor do I have Bill's Social Security income to help with household expenses. I can still manage to keep Casa Tipton-Kelly afloat but gone are my free spending days when I could travel four times a year with Pat. Also, my physical limitations are greater now. My arthritis has progressed to the point where I have trouble walking. I used to be able to walk and walk. Walking was one of my big treasures. I always liked walking and could walk for miles without tiring. These days walking is painful and a chore. But I force myself to walk to keep my circulation going. Walking is absolutely the best exercise for older folk like me.
This November I will be eighty-three years old. That is OLD. I don't have that many trips left in me at this age. A fact I have to face.
So this year this old robin is going to make one more trip to Palm Springs but I think it will be my last trip.
There comes a time one has to face facts. I have a beautiful home here in southern coastal Delaware. I won't freeze this winter like that robin probably will.
I'll keep track of this robin. I'm pretty sure that robin is sending me a signal. The signal that my time to leave isn't too far away. And you know what folks? I'm not sad. I'm not afraid. In fact, I look forward to the next phase of my soul's existence. My eighty-three years of life on this earthly planet, my "school" has been quite interesting and fulfilling. I'm ready.