We had just finished a day of rain and I was standing on the deck breathing in the smell of wet earth when my husband Steven came out and stood next to me.

“It’s really starting to get green out there.” I said as I looked out to our small woods. “The sassafras trees always take a little longer to come in but I do love them.”

Steven nodded. “Pretty soon we won’t be able to see the neighbors behind us.”

I smiled and nodded. “I do love the privacy.”

We watched as a squirrel and a chipmunk chased each other around the bird feeder.

“I just tossed a handful of peanuts out there for them.” The chipmunk came towards us, it’s cheeks stuffed with peanuts. “It looks like the chipmunk is winning.” I laughed.

I looked over at Steven. “You know, I was just reading up on the sassafras trees and it said that they have a natural aroma of root beer and that on a warm summer’s night you’re supposed to be able to smell it.” I looked doubtful. “I don’t remember the yard ever smelling like root beer. Do you?” I pointed to the woods. “And it’s not like we’re lacking in sassafras trees, we have dozens of them!”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “There’s one way to find out.” He walked down the steps and headed for the path in the woods.

I followed him and went to the first tree along the edge of the woods and soon had my nose right next to the leaves. I inhaled. “Nope! Not even a slight whiff.”

Steven was further down the path in the woods. “I think it’s really supposed to be the roots, but I also think you can smell it when you snap a twig.” He snapped off a piece with several leaves attached and put it up to his nose. “Yup, there it is.”

He came back up the path and handed me the twig. I put it up to my nose and inhaled. I looked over at Steven and shook my head. “It smells green to me.”

I handed it back to Steven who once again smelled it. “It smells like root beer to me.”

I took the twig back and tried again. “Okay, maybe I smell it a little.” I lied.

People were writing that I was supposed to be smelling it in the air on a warm summers night, Steven was smelling it when he snapped a twig. I honestly think I just didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t smell it. So I lied.

I tossed the twig on the ground and headed back towards the house.

Steven stopped and looked toward the back of our property. “What do you think about putting some evergreens at the fence line so we have privacy year round?”

“I love that idea!”

A black-capped Chick-a-Dee, with a small twig in it’s beak, swooped in front of me headed for the bird house.

“Hey little man!” I called after the bird. “I know you’re in a hurry to make your nest but that was a little too close to my head!”

Steven started to laugh. “Talking to the wildlife again?” He came over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Maybe having privacy year round would be a good thing.”

“Why? Do you get embarrassed when I talk to the wildlife?”

He shook his head. “I don’t. But I know you.” He pointed his thumb toward the back of the property and started to laugh again. “But what the neighbor’s think when they see you is a whole other story!”

My son Alex and I were headed home after running some errands. We were driving down a four lane road when I spotted the dusty purple flowers of wisteria, its vines covering several trees along the roadway.

“It’s wisteria season!” I cried pointing to the flowers that always reminded me of grape clusters. “Remember the arbor we had, out the kitchen door, that was covered with wisteria?”

“Sure.” Alex nodded.

“I remember when I was a kid it took over a few nearby trees and would cover the roof of the kitchen in the spring.” I started to laugh. “But then your Dad got it under control.” I smiled as I recalled the memory. “I used to love standing under that arbor holding them in my hand and taking in that fragrance.” I slowly began to inhale then stopped. “Wait, I can’t remember the smell.” I looked over at Alex feeling confused. “Seriously! I remember loving their smell and now I can’t recall it!”

Alex looked over at me. “You’re not seriously thinking of stopping on a four lane highway to go over and smell them, are you?”

I guess he’d noticed I’d been slowing the car down. “Well…”

Alex looked behind us to see if any cars were coming. “Are you crazy?”

“That’s what hazard lights are for.” I smiled but then realized a parking lot was just ahead of us. “Okay, fine. I’ll pull in over there.”

I pulled up to the curb, put the car in park, but left the motor running and my driver’s side door open as I went over to the fence line where the wisteria was hanging.

Reaching over I grabbed one of the clusters of flowers and inhaled deeply. “Oh there it is!” I cried as I looked back at the car. “It’s like my whole springtime childhood is flashing back!” I took a few more seconds to enjoy their fragrance before snapping off the cluster and bringing it back to the car.

“Here.” I said handing it to Alex as I began to drive again. “It reminds me a little bit of lily of the valley.” I looked over at him. “What do you think?”

Alex held it up to his nose. “Okay, now I remember it.” He looked over at me. “But I have no idea what lily of the valley smells like so I can’t help you there.” He pushed the button to open his window.

“What are you doing?” I said as I caught his arm that was ready to toss the flowers out the window.”

“Oh, you’re keeping it?”

“Of course! I’m going to put it in a little vase so I can enjoy it for a few more days.”

We’d pulled into the driveway when I saw my husband Steven climbing out of his truck.

“Hey!” I called as he stopped and waited for me to catch up with him. I was holding the wisteria in my hand. “Look what I found! Remember the arbor you built for our wisteria?”

Steven laughed. “I sure do! I battled that vine for over twenty years!”

“But it was beautiful!” I cried. “And the smell!” I held it up for him to smell.

He turned around and started walking to the house. “Nope. I’m not planting wisteria in this yard.”

“Oh, come on!” I looked over at Alex. “How does everyone know what I’m going to say before I even say it!”

Alex came over and patted me on my shoulder. “What can I say.” He shrugged his shoulders and started to laugh. “You’re very predictable.”

“Oh, come on!” Sugar water was dripping through my fingers and into the sink. “How hard can this be!”
My son Alex came into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”
I was struggling to fill the new hummingbird feeder I’d just gotten. My reading glasses were slipping off my nose as I used my forearm to push them back on so I didn’t have to use my sugar drenched hands. I looked over at the directions that were on the counter top.
“Okay, it said that a small bulge on the plastic and a notch on the metal cap need to align.” I held the base up close to my face to check. “I did that.” I looked over at Alex. “That took me a good fifteen minutes to find those.” I shook my head. “I should have gotten a magnifying glass they were so small!”
I looked back at the directions. “Then it says to pour the nectar in slowly.” So, I took the pot with the cooled nectar in it and began pouring it into the bottle. I looked back at the directions. “Then firmly but slowly screw the bottle into the base.”
I looked over at Alex. “Then it says to turn it upside down quickly. It literally says to do this in less then a second to avoid leaking!” I turned it upside down and watched as the nectar began dripping out.
“I give up!” I cried.
I looked over at Alex. “This is the third pot of nectar I’ve heated up, let cool down and tried to fill this thing!”
I put the hummingbird feeder into the sink and began rinsing my nectar sticky hands off. “I can’t believe I needed to read the directions to fill it but after the first try was a disaster I fished the directions out of the garbage and tried again.” I sighed. “And again!”
I turned the water off and reached over to get some paper towels. “Clearly I’m doing something wrong.” I shook my head.
Alex reached into the sink, took out the hummingbird feeder and began looking it over. After a few seconds he stopped turning it. “There’s a crack in the bottle.”
“What?” I looked over at the feeder. “Where?”
Alex pointed to a faint line in the red beveled glass. “Right here.” He began turning the bottle again, stopped and pointed again. “Here’s another one right here.”
I was squinting to see. “Oh, for the love of…” I began shaking my head. “I tried three times to fill that thing and it’s been cracked all this time?”
Alex shrugged his shoulders as he put the feeder back in the sink. “Well, I’m glad I could help.”
I balled up the directions and threw them in the trash. “Well now I’m glad it has some cracks in it because I was beginning to think I didn’t know how to fill a bottle with liquid!”
Alex smiled as he patted me on the shoulder. “You can call me anytime.”

I was looking over at my Golden Pathos, it’s long tendrils hanging below the pedestal table it had been placed on.

“Hum…” I looked over at my son Alex, who was sitting at the dining room table eating a sandwich. “I think this plant might need a haircut.”

Alex looked over at the plant. “Well, it was nice knowing you.” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re not very good at giving plants haircuts.” Alex raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you remember the lavender plants two years ago?”

“Well, that was different.” I challenged. “They kept looking like they needed to be cut back. How was I supposed to know it would kill them!”

“What about the tomato plants?” Alex questioned.

“Well, that wasn’t my fault! I didn’t give them a haircut!” I went over to the kitchen drawer to get the scissors. “That was the stupid groundhog that came up on the porch and snapped the vine!” I looked over at Alex while holding the scissors up in the air before closing the drawer with a bump from my hip. “If I recall I actually saved that plant by using tape to put it back together!” I smiled as I nodded. “I harvested at least two cherry tomatoes from that plant after that!”

Alex shook his head and laughed. “Harvested.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t a bumper crop but, at least I didn’t kill that plant.” I leaned on the back of a dining room chair. “Besides, I’m usually pretty good with my herbs. Last year I had basil, mint, thyme…” I stopped for a moment to think. “Oh, and parsley! I had a lot of parsley.”

“Wasn’t that for the Monarch butterflies?” Alex picked up his plate and went to the sink to rinse it off before placing it in the dishwasher.

I shrugged my shoulders again. “Well, we both used it.” I went over to the Golden Pathos and tried to untangle the long tendrils that were twisted around the pot. “Okay, so let’s see here.” I held onto a dead leaf, that was deep in the middle of the plant, reaching in with the scissors and snipped it off.

“See?” I held up the dead leaf. “It needed that out.”

I looked around the plant searching for more wilted leaves. Reaching, once again, into the center of the plant with the scissors I watched one of the tendrils fall to the floor. “Whoops.” I looked over at Alex. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

Alex picked up the piece with several living leaves attached. “Well, it seems it didn’t survive the

haircut.” He handed me the leaves.

“It’s okay!” I put the scissors down on the table and went over to the glass cabinet. “I can fix this.” I filled a glass with water and snapping the last leaf off I placed that end in the water. “I’ll just propagate this and add it back to the plant once the roots begin to show!”

“I thought you were trying to give it a haircut?” Alex looked confused. “Now you’ve decided you’re going to make the plant bigger?”

“Okay, fine. I’ll just cut a few more off and make a whole new plant to give to someone.” I went over to the table to get the scissors when Alex scooped them up first.

“I don’t think that’s a great idea. Think back to your lavender haircut skills?” he said holding the scissors away from me. He looked back at the Golden Pathos. “You can thank me later.”

“What do you think?” I placed the bee house on the side table next to the glider.

My son Alex and I were on the back porch getting ready for another season of porch sitting.

“Isn’t that a bee house?” Alex asked.

“Yup.” I had to smile as I adjusted it on the table. “It’s like a little piece of art! Don’t you think?”

Alex shook his head. “But that’s where I sit.” He was pointing at the glider, the bee house right next to his spot.

“It’s for Mason bees.” I explained. “They’re not aggressive.”

Alex was still shaking his head. “I still don’t want to sit next to it!”

“Well, it’s not going to be there all summer.” I pointed out in the woods. “Your Dad’s going to hang it up on the shed for me.”

“Okay, that’s a better idea.” He sat down in his spot.

“But until he does I kind of like it there.” I sat down in my rocking chair, tipping back so I could put my feet up on the wooden ottoman.

“So exactly how does it work?” Alex tipped the bee house back looking into the empty tubes.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m not exactly positive but I think the Mason bees lay their eggs in the tubes, then cover them up with mud and in the fall we take the house and put it in the shed. Then next spring we bring it out when it starts to get warm and they hatch!” I looked over at him and smiled. “It’s our way to help the pollinating bee population keep growing!”

“Okay, I know you like helping nature and all that but…” Alex put the bee house back in place. “This is going to happen out by the shed, right?”

“I guess.” I shrugged my shoulders again. “You know how busy your Dad is.” I raised my eyebrows. “So that could mean this week, next month or…”

Alex picked up the bee house again and looked at the back. “It has a little hook on the back.” He looked over at me. “All it needs is a nail hammered into the side of the shed and it can be hung up in two seconds.”

I sighed. “I know, but your Dad likes to do those kinds of things for me.”

“Well, how about I help him on this one.” Alex picked up the bee house and headed for the garage.

Lifting open the door he reached into the tool box and grabbed a hammer. Pulling a nail out of a jar on the shelf he turned back to me. “We’re all set. Just show me where you want it hung.”

We went into the back yard, walking along the path through the woods that had dozens of daffodils blooming on both sides, until we got to the shed.

“I think at the far end.” I pointed to where I wanted it hung. “It’s supposed to be on the sunny side.” I looked back at the porch. “And I want to be able to see it from the porch.”

Alex looked over at me with a confused look on his face. “It’s not like you’re going to see the bees laying their eggs from the porch.”

“I know. But I told you I really like the look of it. The way the tubes are set in it, it looks like a small work of art to me.”

Alex shook his head and laughed as he made his way down the side of the shed. Placing the bee house on the ground he took the hammer and tapped the nail in. Picking up the house he placed it on the nail and stepped back to look. “Perfect.” He looked over at me. “How do you like it?”

“I love it!”

We stood and admired it for a few moments before walking single file back up the path.

“So, you really didn’t want that on the porch for even a day did you?” I called over my shoulder.

“Nope. Not even for a day.”

I was sitting in the living room spinning a gold scarab bracelet around my wrist when my husband Steven came into the room. “What are you up to?”

I held my wrist out. “Do you remember this?”

Steven came over to look at the bracelet of carved scarab beetles in different colored stones around my wrist.

He looked confused. “I don’t remember giving you that.”

“You didn’t.” I began rubbing the beetle carved from a tiger’s eye stone. “My Mom bought it for me.”

Steven nodded his head. “That’s nice. What made you put it on now?”

“I was thinking about this time of year when everything is coming alive again and the story of when she bought it for me just popped into my head. I went to look to see if I still had it.” I smiled as I held out my wrist again. “And I did!”

“Well, I’m glad.” He was ready to walk away when I stopped him. “Don’t you want to hear the story of when she bought it for me?”

Steven stopped and I noticed only a second of hesitation before he turned around and sat on the couch and smiled. “Sure I do.”

I settled back in the couch. “Well…” I admired my bracelet again. “It was the weirdest thing. One day, when I was a teenager my Mom, out of the blue, said, ‘You need a scarab bracelet.” I began to shake my head. “At that time I had no idea what a scarab was let alone why I needed a bracelet of it.” I looked over at Steven and smiled. “But you know how I feel about jewelry.”

Steven nodded his head. “You do love your jewelry.”

I looked back at the bracelet then back at Steven. “So we went to the jewelry store and the next thing I know I’m looking at these weird little beetles carved out of stones, set in gold.”

“Well, that’s a special memory.” Steven said as he patted my knee and started to get up.

“But why did she think I needed this?” I asked. “She knew I usually only wore silver.” I looked over at Steven. “I still do.”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Well, we’ll never know now.”

“That’s true, but…” I held up my phone. “I looked it up and when you give a scarab beetle it symbolizes good fortune, hope, and restoration of life.”

Steven started to laugh. “Do you really think your Mom knew that meaning when she got it for you?”

The look on my face had him stopping in mid-laugh.

“I’d like to think so.” I said as my son Alex came into the room. “Hey, do you want to hear the story behind this bracelet?” I held out my wrist for Alex to see.

Alex looked over at his Dad who was slowly backing out of the room.

“Hmm. Sure.” he said down on the couch. “If it’s not a really long story.”

“It’s quick.” I said as I repeated the story to him. When I was done I looked over to him. “Do you still have the scarabs I gave you?”

Alex looked confused. “They’re hanging on my bedside lamp. But I didn’t know you gave them to me. I thought I got them when I was a kid at Allaire Park.”

Now I looked confused. “I got them at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when I toured their Egyptian wing.” I shook my head. “Why would they sell scarabs at a Colonial village?”

“Beats me.” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “But now that I know what they are and what they mean…Thanks.”

“So…” I had to laugh. “You’re welcome.”

It had been a dreary, rainy day and I was puttering around the house getting chores done.

As I was passing my dining room window I noticed the western sky had turned much darker. “Oh boy! I think a storms coming!” I called.

My husband Steven came into the room. “I was just coming to tell you. I was checking the weather channel and there’s supposed to be a thunderstorm in about twenty minutes.”

I smiled and rubbed my hands together. “Thunderstorm season is here!” I cried.

I looked over at the clock. “Well, it’s way too early to pour a glass of wine and sit on the back porch.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But there will be plenty of storms coming up for that.”

Instead I finished cleaning the kitchen and waited for the first crack of thunder to come. It wasn’t long before I heard the first rumble way off in the distance.

I wiped my hands on the dishtowel and headed for the back door. The rain was coming down harder as I stepped out on the porch making sure I stayed closer to the house, well under the porch roof. I watched a chubby squirrel race through the leaf covered woods, that was part of our backyard, headed for a drier place to wait out the storm.

Steven stepped outside and stood next to me. I slowly inhaled. “Don’t you just love the smell of a spring rain?”

Steven nodded. “It does smell good.”

After several minutes of heavy rain the western sky began to brighten and the rain was slowly letting up.

I looked over at Steven, slightly disappointed. “Well, that was quick.”

The rain had now completely stopped and seconds later the sun came out. All the raindrops that were still hanging from the trees began to sparkle.

I looked over to Steven. “Look how pretty everything looks.” I pointed to all of our bunches of daffodils scattered throughout the woods. “I can’t believe all the bulbs I planted have come up!”

Steven looked over at me with a surprised look on his face. “All the bulbs you planted?”

I was confused. “We bought over one hundred blubs last fall. Don’t you remember?”

Steven laughed. “Oh, I remember.” He was nodding his head. “But it seems you’ve forgotten that I was the one who dug all the holes for you to plant them in.”
“Oh yeah.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Sorry about that.” I waved my hand back out to the yard. “I can’t believe all the bulbs WE planted have come up.”

“That’s better.”

We watched as the bird feeders began to fill with birds all chirping and wing flapping to get to the best spots on the feeders. A robin was at the edge of the birdbath getting ready to take a swim.

“I love this time of year.” I sighed. “Everything’s coming back to life.”

We watched as a squirrel shimmied up the bird feeder’s Shepard’s hook, reached over to the feeder, grabbed hold on one of the bird perches and swung over hanging upside down and began doing stomach crunches to reach the birdseed.

Steven looked over at me. He saw the disgusted looked on my face and began to laugh. “Yup, everything is coming back to life.”

I shook my head. Watching as the squirrel emptied out the feeder. “I’m sorry to say they’ve never left.”

“I did it!” I called as I walked in the door carrying several bags of groceries.

Alex took the bags from my hands and went into the kitchen with them. “I can see that.” He put the bags on the countertop. “Thanks for doing the grocery shopping.”

“Oh, you’re welcome but I wasn’t talking about grocery shopping when I said ‘I did it’.” I reached into a bag and pulled out a small baggie filled with toothpicks. “I found something that I can store in that really great candy box you gave me for Valentine’s Day!”

Alex looked confused as he took the milk from the bag and went to put it in the refrigerator. “Are you serious?” He turned around to look at me. “You saved the Godiva box?”

“Of course I did.” I opened the drawer where I kept the utensils and tucked in the back of the drawer was the golden metal box. “See?” I pulled it out and showed it to him.

Alex shook his head. “I can’t believe you kept that.”

I had to laugh. “You can’t?” I put the box on the countertop and tore open the baggie. “You know how much I love boxes!” I poured the toothpicks in the box watching as they slipped out of the baggie and into the box. Once they were all in I shook them into place. “Perfect fit!” I put the lid back on and opened the spice cabinet sliding it next to my recipe box. “That’s so much better then a baggie of toothpicks!”

Alex looked over at me. “I guess.”

“What do you mean you guess?” I took the box back off the shelf. “This is so much nicer than the cardboard boxes they usually come in.” I began pulling the tightly fitting lid off. “And I couldn’t even find any of those in the store. They only had the baggies.” I pulled a little harder finally getting it open but spilling several toothpicks onto the counter.

“How many fell out Rain Man?” Alex asked me.

I began to laugh as I scanned the countertop. “Eight toothpicks. Definitely eight toothpicks.”

“How many came in the bag?” Alex asked.

I shook my head as I continued to laugh. “Nope, not doing the math on that one.” I scooped the toothpicks off the counter and tossed them in the trash.

“You’re going to go through them pretty quickly if that happens every time you open the box.”

I shook my head again as I put the lid back on and placed the box back on the shelf. “I don’t care. I’m not giving up this box.”

I paused for a moment. “Wasn’t it two hundred and forty six?”

“Two hundred and forty six what?” Alex pulled a loaf of bread out of a grocery bag and was headed for the cabinet.

“Two hundred and forty six was the number of toothpicks the waitress dropped in the movie.”

Alex began to laugh again. “Two hundred and forty six definitely two hundred and forty six.” Alex quoted from the scene.

“Wow!” I shook my head. “I can’t believe I remembered that!” I went back to putting away the rest of the groceries. “Maybe when we’re done with this we can find an old rerun of The People’s Court and see what Judge Wapner is up to!”

I was walking up to the front door, keys ready in my hand, when my son Alex opened the door for me.

“How was your brunch?” he asked as I stepped past him and dropped my purse on the chair. “It was nice. Mary and Liz said to say hi and that they were sorry you couldn’t make it.” I took off my jacket and hung it in the closet. “How’s your back?”

Alex twisted from side to side. “Getting a little better I think. I’ve been doing some stretches.”

“That’s good.” I turned around and started to laugh. “I got food shamed at the restaurant.”

“What?” Alex looked confused. “Food shamed?”

I nodded my head. “When the waitress was taking our order I said I wanted two eggs over easy, bacon and hash browns.”

“That sounds good.”

“I know!” I had to laugh again. “She asked me if I knew what their hash browns were like.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I was a little confused, thinking they served some kind of strange hash brown.”

“So what kind do they serve?”

“She said they were like McDonald’s hash browns.” Grabbing a glass from the cabinet I went over to the refrigerator to get some water. “I’m thinking that’s perfect, a nice golden hash brown with my over easy egg right on top of it!”

“So what’s wrong with that?” Alex was leaning against the counter top.

“She said she wanted me to be sure I knew what they were because no one over 12 year old ever ordered them.” I looked over at Alex before taking a sip from my glass.

Alex grimaced. “Ouch.”

“Exactly!” I put the glass on the countertop and leaned against the countertop. “How was I supposed to order it after she said that?” I started to laugh again. “I had to order the clearly grown-up home fries instead!”

“Well, homes fries are good too.”

“Not as good as hash browns.” I sighed. “When did hash browns become a toddler treat?”

Alex shook his head. “She didn’t say toddler. She said no one under 12.” Alex leaned over and patted me on the shoulder. “I know what will make you feel better.”

“What?”

“Why don’t you stop and get yourself a McDonald’s Happy Meal for your lunch tomorrow?”

I started to laugh. “Actually, that’s a great idea!” I pulled out my phone. “I wonder what toy they have this week?”

“Whatever it is I’m sure one of your kids in school is going to be very happy.”

“It’s Mario Kart!” I held up my phone to show him. “That’s a good one! Now I just have to figure out which teacher’s prize box it’s going to go it.”

“See, you’re all grown up again!”

My son Alex and I were taking an after dinner walk when we spotted a patch of something that was a brilliant blue sitting on a bare branch.

“What is that?” Alex asked as we watched the patch of blue leave the tree branch and fly to another tree.

“Oh, it’s a bird!” I cried as we watched a few more of them fly from tree to tree. “Are they Blue Jays?”

“Nope. They’re smaller than a blue jay and not the right color blue.”

As we watched them fly off I took my phone out of my pocket and clicked on Google. “I can’t believe I’ve never seen that bird before.” I typed in ‘blue birds in New Jersey’ and up popped our little friend. “It’s literally called a Bluebird!” I showed Alex the picture.

Alex looked at the picture. “Yup, that’s it alright.”

I turned the phone back to me and began reading about it. “It says they’re a common sight in New Jersey.” I looked back at Alex. “Clearly we live under a rock because that’s the first one I’ve ever seen.”

Alex laughed. “I’ve never seen one either.”

“I guess we both live under a rock.” I answered as I continued reading. “Oh, wait!” I began nodding my head. “It says that from the 1930’s to the 70’s their population dwindled because of habitat loss, pesticide use and the introduction of aggressive non-native birds like Starlings.” I looked back at Alex angrily shaking my head. “Another reason I’m not a big fan of Starlings. What a bunch of bullies chasing away those sweet little Bluebirds.”

I put my phone back in my pocket and we began walking again. “I’m glad they’re coming back.”

Alex nodded his head.

I thought I spotted another one in the trees. “Welcome back little guys!” I called up to them.

Alex quickly looked around making sure we were alone on the path.

“Don’t worry. I checked to see if we were by ourselves before I called out.”

“I appreciate that.”

“No worries.” I stopped and pulled my phone out of my pocket again. “Hey, I just thought of the phrase, Bluebird of happiness. I wonder if that’s a real thing?” I began typing again.

“It is!” I began scrolling again. “It was a song but, it also says a Bluebird is a symbol of joy and happiness and when you spot one you can expect that in your future.” I looked over to Alex. “Okay so which one of us spotted it first so we know who can expect the joy and happiness in the near future?”

Alex looked at me for a minute. “What if I say we both saw it at the same time?”

“Really?” I slipped my phone back in my pocket and we began to walk again. “That would be great!”

“Are you feeling like you need a little more joy and happiness in your life right now?”

“Are you kidding?” I looked over at Alex. “I’m feeling like the entire world could use a little more joy and happiness right now.”

Alex nodded his head in agreement as I pointed to another Bluebird further up the path. “You’ve got your work cut out for you little guy!” I called out to him.

Alex looked behind us again.

“Don’t worry.” I laughed. “We’re still alone.”