Every day's a school day

I often use the phrase ‘every day’s a school day’ as a reminder that you never know when something is going to hit you and make you stop and think.  It’s the school holidays as I’m writing this and as always, I use the break to take a breath and think about what’s important. As a parent, I’m learning every day and I was stopped in my tracks reading a book to my young son. I did not expect ‘Cat Kid; Comic Club Influencers’, a graphic novel by Dav Pilkey to do that but it definitely did. 

Within the story, a mechanic fish, who has adopted frogs (it’s that kind of book) is disturbed by his daughter, wanting to show her father a comic she’s just written. He berates her because it’s passed her bedtime and she runs off crying, leaving her father alone again. He picks up the comic book and reads. It might very well be based on a classic version that I'm not aware of as the premise is timeless. The story goes like this. 

Two Birds

One day as the world is spinning. 

And the morning was beginning. 

Two birds hatched in one great tree. 

And saw the world quite differently. 

One looked up and one looked down. 

One bird smiled and one bird frowned.

One bird sang, one bird roared.

One said, “thank you”, and one said “more”. 

Seasons changed and two birds grew. 

They longed to fly, as most birds do, 

and so, both birds, with wings unfurled, 

fluttered off to see the world. 

Two birds tumbled from their nest 

even though they tried their best. 

One bird yelled and cried and swore, 

and one bird said, “let's try some more”. 

And after many, many tries,

two birds finally learn to fly, 

soaring over land and sea, 

still seeing things quite differently. 

One looked down and saw the crowds. 

One looked up and notice clouds.

One saw mud and trash and cars. 

One saw moonbeams, flecked with stars.

One bird saw the rain and cried, 

“It's too wet to be outside”,

 the other bird said, with a laugh,

 “What a nice day for a bath”.

One day when they needed rests, 

two birds made two little nests 

side-by-side upon a branch

One happy home, one ragged ranch. 

Then a Tempest raged outside

So, two birds found a place to hide. 

There they huddled, safe and warm. 

As they weathered out the storm. 

Soon their tree began to sway

and all their trappings blew away. 

The wild wind raged on and on. 

Until their tiny nests were gone. 

One bird stomped and shook her wings. 

“We lost our nests. We lost our things.” 

She cursed the wind that caused the strife. 

“This is the worst day of my life.” 

The other bird was homeless too, 

“but I am safe and so are you”. 

And so, she raised her voice to say, 

“I've never known a better day.”

Many, many years went by. 

And two birds grew too old to fly. 

Collapsed before the setting sun. 

One bird said, “my life is done”. 

Too tired to walk, too blind to see. 

A life choked with misery. 

She laid upon the rock to die 

and with her final breath said “why?”. 

The other bird was dying too. 

For that's what every bird must do. 

Grateful for a chance to live, 

to see the world, to love, to give. 

And so, she sat upon the ground, 

beholden to the world around 

the trees, the stars, the riverbanks, 

and with her final word, said “thanks”. 

Two birds passed away that day. 

Each saw things a different way. 

Two birds came, and now they're gone. 

And the world spins on and on and on.

Thank you, Poppy, the comic book influencer frog, and thank you, Dav Pilkey. You never know when the next lesson will come that that you carry with you. I just thought I'd share it.

Poppy, a frog full of ideas and the daughter of a mechanical fish