Love is in the details.

We are one of the younger families in our neighborhood. It works. We get taken care of. Looked out for. Checked in on. This has become only more true with the absence of the wasband. Not in a way that makes me feel like I am not handling things. But in a way that makes me feel like I am not alone. Like my kids are not alone. Like there are people rooting for us on every corner.

One of the things the kids and I spend (frivolous) money on is our bird feeders. We have three around the house and they bring us so much joy. Except for the squirrels. Those rat bastards are my nemesis and they taunt me. But not the point. Back to the bird feeders.

We have a new-ish neighbor and we have chatted on and off about the feeders. She got some for her own place because she loved watching ours. She even gave us a bag of bird seed once because we were out and she missed the birds. If that isn't neighborly...

Not the bird feeder but you get the idea.

I was in the kitchen the other day and saw birds feeding on our backyard feeder. This was odd because it had been empty for quite some time. It was actually a little gross and my neighbor and I had been chatting about me cleaning it and filling it back up. How the kids and I missed seeing the birds. How it brings all of us so much joy. I called her to ask if she had filled our feeder. She had. Sorta. She had bought us a new one. And hung that one up, full, in place of our old one. She even sought out the anti-squirrel one that we had. I cried. Because it was so kind. Because it was so thoughtful. Because like many things right now, this little frivolity has gotten much lower on the list. She knew that. She knew how much we loved it. So she gave us joy. An anti-squirrel bird feeder full up. Love is in the details.

You can share this. Or not. I'll love you anyway.