Turkey In The Tree

Yesterday, I kept hearing a strange noise at the back of our property. We have so many trees in the back, we call it the forest - and the strange and distant sound was coming from deep inside all the trees. Each time I heard it, I would cock my head to the side and listen intently. It was a noise I hadn't heard before. I was pretty sure it was a bird - but what kind of bird, I didn't know.

It finally took the curiosity of my 9 year old daughter to solve the mystery.

"Mom! Come quick!" Bursting into the house (as she usually does), she threw open the backdoor, where it swung heavily and hit the wall with a loud bang.

"Hurry!" She panted, her body wiggling and gyrating around the open doorway dramatically and anxiously.

"What is wrong, London?" I asked her, speaking in a slow, calm voice. I normally tried to react this way. I imagined my forced calmness would somehow permeate into her.

"There's a rooster in a tree!" She blurted out, her eyes huge in her tan face.

"A rooster." It wasn't a question. It was a statement, spoken in a tone of disbelief.

"YES! A rooster!" She was hopping up and down now.

In my head I could hear NASA's countdown leading up to her explosion.

10, 9, 8, 7,....

"MOM!" She spread her arms open wide and stared at me because I hadn't moved and was still standing in the same position.

6, 5, 4,,...

"You don't believe me." Lowering her voice (only minimally,) she narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. With the look I normally give her, she rested all her weight on one hip and stared me down.

"It's not that I don't believe you," I tried to explain. "I know there's something out there. I've heard it all day." As I picked up my sunglasses from the counter top, I gave her the first indication I was actually going to follow her. "I just doubt it's a rooster." This sent her over the edge - like I knew it would.

"It IS! I know it is.... because I saw it's little hangy thing!" Reaching full launch, she finally detonated. Rocketing out the door, she skidded around the corner and clambered down the patio steps.

3, 2, 1,....... blast off!

Yelling words I couldn't quite catch, London bolted down the grass towards the forest, flailing her arms and legs around like a complete psycho.

By this time, my husband had overheard the drama and was tailing behind me as I followed my daughter - the raving lunatic.

Behind my husband, trailed my 4 year old daughter Haven. Pumping her tan, little legs, she was shrieking "A rooster? Where's a rooster?"

Up ahead, London somehow heard her sister's question and shouted over her shoulder, "In the treeeeeeee!"

I turned and gave my husband a look that clearly said, "I only gave birth to her - that doesn't mean she's mine."

At the base of a spindly tree, the four of us stopped and peered up into the branches. A wild turkey, with just as wild eyes looked down at us.

"It's a wild turkey," I told London.

"What's a wild turkey?" Haven queried, her head craned all the way back as she looked straight up.

"That's a wild turkey," I pointed out to her.

"What's he doing in our tree?" London wanted to know.

"That I don't know," I admitted.

After a few minutes of staring up into the treetops and imagining how and why a wild turkey was in our tree, my husband lost interest. Turning on his heel, he headed back towards the house.

"But dad!" London wailed. "How will we get him down!"

My husband turned, a wry smile on his amused face. "I know how to get him down," he told her.

I knew exactly where this was going.

"How?" London's face lit up.

I put my arm around London's shoulders. "He's only teasing you honey. He means he will shoot it down."

My husband's laughter echoed through the backyard as he continued towards the house. I knew he was laughing because 1. he loves to tease the girls' and 2. Because I had somehow known what he was going to say.

Finally getting the joke, London shot her father a vicious look.

But I understood London, for I was just like her. I too, wished we could get the turkey down from the tree. I knew exactly how she felt - because when I gave birth to London - I gave birth to myself. London is so much like me, it is frightening to witness. God truly does have a sense of humor.

My entire life I have always wanted to help any and every animal I have ever come in contact with. Right now, as I looked up into the tree and saw what I thought looked like the fear in the turkey's eyes, I wanted to haul out our tallest ladder and simply climb up there myself. Deep inside me, I knew that someone needed to help him! As the tree branches waved back and forth in the wind, the poor turkey kept clutching at the thin branch as if he were losing his footing.

Didn't he know he should come down? Why did he keep flapping his wings and going higher and higher. The branches were thinner up there, and although he wasn't a large turkey - he was no mere sparrow either.

"I want to help him," London whimpered at my side. Turning huge, doe eyes up at me, her mouth was drawn into a sad frown.

"I know, you do sweetie. I want to help him too, but he doesn't seem to want our help."

"I'm going to stay out here for awhile and watch him," London said, sitting down and folding her legs and arms into the Indian style position.

"I know you are." I smiled, ruffling her hair.

Today - the turkey is gone. I guess he wasn't stuck after all, but looking back, I wonder why so many of us are like a turkey in the tree. Somehow we get ourselves up a tree and becomes stuck. Once in the tree, we affect others by their concern. They worry about how and why we got up there and try to help. And instead of listening to the advice or allowing them to help us - we frantically flap our foolish wings and just end up perched precariously on thin branches that won't hold our weight. Stubbornly, we ride out the storms of wind and reason and wait until we have decided what is best.

I am a turkey in a tree. I am so busy with life and keeping things orderly within our family that I too, am stuck up high in a tree. And as my pleading family stares up at me and begs me to come down and be with them, I can only flutter and climb higher. In my mind, I have completely honorable intentions. With dreams of higher branches and aspirations I can help my family if I can just get to the next higher branch.

I think I will shut off my computer be done with working. Maybe I'll go and break out a some games with my girls'. Father's day is this weekend and we have meals, special desserts and lots of fun planned for dad. But instead of waiting until Sunday, I think we will begin today. And instead of making it a Father's day - we will make it a Father's Weekend. It's 4:00 on Friday,.... hell - the weekend is here!

Happy Father's day to all the dad's out there working hard for their families. That's the way it's always been,..... that's the way it was with my father. And if he were still here today, I know he'd agree with me and want to start the weekend now.

*By the way, I'm just like my father - like London is just like me. And if my dad were here today, I know he'd already have a ladder set up against the tree to rescue that stubborn turkey. And you know what? London and I would be right there alongside him,.... following in his footsteps, the way we always have been.