
Spring was starting to show on the trees with beautiful cherry blossom flowering in the most wonderful shades of pink which made the whole village look wonderful for what only seemed like a minute before dropping and blowing away in the wind and rain. The daffodils the same, I spotted them through my window in the garden with their bright yellow faces turning towards the sun then as the weeks passed, they were gone. I loved running through the daffys last year with Roxy my dog. I would throw the tennis ball deep into the jungle of yellow flowers and enjoy watching her hunt around till she appeared with the ball in her mouth and that cheesy grin she has on her face when she is happy. But not this year. Everything changed this year. No school in weeks, no seeing my friends, no papa and nana and no running through the daffys with Roxy. Mum says it will be back to normal soon but dads not so sure. He got sick a few years ago and his immune system is not working properly so he has been told to stay in to keep safe and we are all doing the same to protect him.
We do have a walk everyday though in the forest behind our house, dad says if he we didn’t, he would go crazy and I think I’m the same. Getting out and exploring the forest is what I look forward to most just now and every day we see something different or something that makes me feel like everything will be ok. For example, last week we were out walking in a new trail that we found, and dad suddenly said “Shhhh!”, “Quiet look on the tree”. I stopped in my tracks, giving Roxy a gentle tug on her lead to do the same and right next to us on a branch at eye level was the most handsome Robin. He genuinely seemed interested to meet us, not scared at all and as we spoke to him, he sung back to us proudly.
I had packed some apples to eat on our journey and dad said “Hey give me one of those apples from your bag”. I unzipped my backpack and handed dad the tastiest looking apple out of the bunch and he started to take small bites out of it then throw it on the ground below the tree where Robin was perched still singing to us. The robin swooped down to the ground, hopping daintily around the small pieces of apple then took one of the pieces in his beak and flew back to the branch he had previously been perched on. He crunched down on the tasty white flesh of the apple and then as we watched on beaming with smiles, he proceeded to do the same with all the other little pieces dad had thrown down on the ground for him to enjoy. We watched this merry scene for what felt like ages and never even once thought about lockdown or corona Virus. Mesmerised by this happy wee creature enjoying our offering, a harmony between humans and animals. A special moment that made me feel connected to this world we live on.
The moment was broken suddenly when I was conscious I could hear the sound of rain drops ‘pitter, pitter, pitter patter, pitter patter. Dad also must have woken from the serenity of the moment and said “C’mon guys let’s get going in case it turns heavy. How nice was that?”
“Amazing dad” I replied, “I think he is our new friend”. Dad chuckled to himself and said “Ha ha Aye I think you’re right there” “Funny wee creatures, Grandma Jenny used to say that Robins are the souls of loved ones that have passed away and that’s why they are so friendly”
“You think?” I said
“No, Nae really”, he replied smiling then proceeded to put his hands up like a ghost and say “ooohahaha”. I also laughed and we started the journey back through the woods home. The funniest thing was the Robin followed us most of the way back through the forest, hopping and flying tree to tree until eventually he flew off and we didn’t see him again. It was if he wanted to return the favour of the company and tasty snack so thought he would help us get back safely. Well either that or he thought we maybe had more apples.
As we approached our house the rain did start to get heavier and I said to dad. “Thanks for coming walking today, I can’t wait to tell mum about our new wee friend” Dad didn’t reply but smiled lovingly and put his hand on my back as I opened the door and entered the house.