Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Nests


In preparation for my move, I have been busy cleaning out cupboards and closets, drawers and storage areas. This evening, as I cleared out a drawer in my bathroom, I stumbled across something I wrote just after moving to Illinois from Georgia four years ago. Here are a few paragraphs of what I wrote then:

"I discovered a mother Carolina Wren building her nest in my garage in Georgia last year and had to move it. She squawked at me terribly, not fully understanding why my garage was not a good place to raise her young. I am sure she had painstakingly chosen each twig, blade of grass and other duff and carefully wove it around and made it secure. Moving a nest is not easy.

Moving for me is never easy. Even when it may be for my own good or for my family's own good. Each friendship that I form in a place serves to make me strong so that I can in turn protect and nurture my family. I weave those friendships around myself and form a tight safe bond. When my nest is moved, I am forced to try and reconstruct it. To find those people that bring meaning into my life. It takes time and is never easy."

I suspect that the mother wren whose nest I moved in Georgia went on to successfully rebuild and raise her brood. She had the innate ability to go forth and make things work for her family despite any obstacle put in her way. Picking up new sticks and animal fur and weaving them together, she slowly began anew.

My nest here in Illinois has been woven together with the friendship of my cousin Susan who I have known since we were young girls visiting my grandmother's cottage in Michigan, my college roommate Peggy who I met almost 30 years ago, and my friends Katherine, Chris & Jamie. Providing additional strength and support to what I built here were my friends that live out of state- Annie, Marlyn, Marsha, Toni Ann, and Jane.

As I prepare to move once again. the sadness of leaving this place and these friends behind is slowly beginning to creep in. It is hard to start again. To pick up the pieces in a new place and weave them together. Unlike the wren, I don't feel like I have a natural built-in ability to build anew. My ability to start over comes from the support I receive from my friends both near and far. Just knowing that they will only be a phone call or email away will get me through this.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boy are you going to be MISSED here! As we have talked about many times before though...it is a small world. I look forward to keeping in touch with you from here on out~

Jamie

Anonymous said...

Darcy, I am so glad to have met you. We seemed to have hit it off right from the start and I am so thankful to call you my dear friend!! We will really miss you, but will only be a phone call away :) I totally look forward to visiting you in one of my favorite cities!! You will have such a great time there!!! I wish I could go with you!
Chris