The hummingbirds come out in the rain…

nothing is going to keep this flock down

The hummingbirds come out in the rain…

We are very fortunate, she and I. Not only do we have a great backyard, but the kitchen table looks out on to it. I am writing at the table now. Vanessa started singing an old Donna Summer song, because the pizza box is outside and that’s how she knew it was raining.

When I pause to gather my thoughts, my gaze goes out long. Deep focus into the trees and shrubs. And there they are, just like my thoughts, darting around… the hummingbirds. I love them. When we exit the house, they chirp, a bit like machines, seemingly saying hello. Do they tell the tales of how Vanessa has rescued their siblings when they have flown inside the house? Caught them in her hat and freed them back out to fly high again?

When I send kisses to Vanessa in the other room, the sounds of these kisses sound like the sound the hummingbirds make when they chirp hello. Are they sending us kisses too?

It is change and persistence both that are darting around my mind this morning, sucking down the nectar where they might find it. One of my allies, sensitive soul that he is, texted that everyone is writing about the death of cinema, and he can’t take it when he is trying to keep up his strength to finish this one well. This one is the one, the one that will not just put him on the map, but get all the others to go as he’s always dreamed. Another ally seems to be dancing, glad that things are finally burning, that now she may get her chance. And everyone is wondering, is there really something better? Will there ever be? Can we actually do it better than what we currently have? Haven’t we been saying we could do better for so long, but somehow it has never arrived? Or when it did, it too soon died afterwards. Yeah, yeah, but that’s not the point. None of it is.

It is all change. It all has always been change. Last night someone said change is love. Last night someone said “god is change”. I believe in change. I want to live for change. I want us to be all about change.

On our first date, twenty two years ago, Vanessa and I each said we wanted to live our lives for change. Growth too. Growth is positive change. But still change. Always change. Not all change is good change, but it too shall change. Change changes. We are never the same river twice. But by pushing for change, more comes. By pushing for change, more good change comes.