Thursday, May 19, 2011

Silent Support

Tom doesn't talk much about Olivia's special needs. Well, unless he's bitching about the cost of gymnastics. But over the past six or so months I just ignore that, so he hasn't said much on that subject lately either.

He were there in the beginning for her therapies so he gets that it's important. He just doesn't like paying for it. Her early therapies were through First Steps which is Indiana's early intervention program.

Because Tom has worked from him since before O was born, he was the go-to person for two of her four therapies. He was there with her when the therapists showed up and he saw what they did and heard their explanation for how they helped.

So while he does tend to spout off about the cost of gymnastics, he does get that it's beneficial. He just doesn't talk about Olivia's 'special' needs very often. As far as he's concerned, she's his baby, his little girl that needs a little extra help going up and down the stairs, his child who happened to get therapies for three years. No big deal.

There's this robin that keeps building a nest between our eave spout and the siding on the garage next to our front porch.

Tom's been loathe to tear down the nest because, well, he's a nice guy and thinks birds have a right to have a home out of the wind and rain too. I know. Sweet, huh?

This morning as we were loading the car before school, Alyssa happened to go outside garage while waiting for the rest of us to come out and get in the car.

She saw a broken robin's egg laying on the sidewalk beneath the nest. Inside the broken egg was a partially formed bird fetus.

Tom scowled at the poor little thing and then up at the nest.

He said, "There must have been something wrong with the baby bird. The mother bird kicked it out of the nest."

I asked if he was sure the egg hadn't just fallen out.

He shook his head. "That's the third egg she's kicked out."

As he picked up Olivia and started to strap her into her carseat, he muttered, "That's it. I'm tearing that nest down."

I asked him why.

He closed the car door next to Olivia and said, "If that mother bird isn't willing to take on a special needs baby bird, she isn't welcome in our yard."

Just...let that sink in for a minute.

He was saying that the mother bird was basically aborting her eggs mid-development because she sensed that something was wrong with the bird inside. He was also saying that that was wrong.

This is the most he's ever talked about advocating for special needs of any kind. So he was talking about special needs birds rather than children. Big deal. I got it.

And I love him that much more because of it.

3 comments:

Lauren said...

Wow. So much summed up in one moment.

Tiffany said...

I love this. So much.

Brittany said...

What a beautiful moment, I love things like that, it always puts things into perspective.