The Rescuers

I was returning from my morning walk when I spotted the pretty blue egg on the ground near our front porch steps. In looking closer, I realized it was unbroken. The egg was so small, so lovely. How did it end up there?

Deeply concerned, I went inside the house and brought Tiny Tiger out to survey the situation. The egg looked perfect, but why was it there? We worried about it. Was there a tiny bird inside? What would happen to it?

Then my husband pointed out that there was a robin's nest in one of the nearby rhododendron bushes, with MORE blue eggs in it, just like this one. This egg was far enough away that it could NOT have just fallen out or been intentionally pushed out by a parent.

We determined that the egg was probably purloined, or removed by a predator! Maybe by a mouse or another bird? I put the pictures on Facebook, and a neighbor told us she'd seen small red squirrels harassing their birds; maybe one of those had removed our egg from its nest!

We wanted to try to save the blue egg; T. Tiger, a champion of the smaller creatures in life, would not give up! So my husband (Our Hero!) volunteered to place the little blue egg back in the nest.

Let me stop here and point out that I don't know if this is what we should have done, or not. And in fact, in life, it is sometimes difficult to puzzle out what is wrong and what is right. The world is not saved by good intentions, but by right actions. But Tiny Tiger insisted (not unlike Ian Malcolm in that dinosaur movie) that if we helped out, somehow Life Will Find a Way.

Sometimes you just have to listen to your heart. And the heart wants what the heart wants, which in this case meant: RESCUE! So with Tiny Tiger looking on, my husband (with a great big smile, and without touching the egg with his actual hands) placed the little blue egg back in the nest with the other blue eggs, in the rhododendron bush. Well done, boys!

Now, we do not know what will happen to the pretty blue egg from this point on. But, in fact, we are not in charge of what happens next. Dear hearts, we must only do the thing that is our thing to do, and then we can rest in grace, allow the Earth to keep spinning on its axis, and hope and pray for the very best outcome. So that is what we will do next!

It is my custom to include a soundtrack song, and this rescue story suggests quite a few of those! So if you'll indulge me, here are our songs:

The Rescue Aid Society song from the Disney film The Rescuers (a personal favorite film, as we adore Bernard and Miss Bianca).
The final song from The Rescuers, Tomorrow Is Another Day.

And here's a word from our rescuers themselves, which is to say, one very small stripey Tiger with a heart as big as the ocean, and one kind Husband who is a real keeper: When the time comes to step forward and do some good thing, listen to your heart, and do the thing. Here are two versions of the song Listen To Your Heart: the original by Roxette, and an awesome cover by D.H.T.