Last Christmas, my wife gave me a bluebird nesting box as a present. I attached the box to the trunk of a a tree, out on our prairie, in late April of this year. And it was now time to see if we had a nesting pair of bluebirds.
It was May 19th, and as I hid in the tall grass, about 100 feet away, I reminded myself of the doctor’s appointment I had to leave for in about an hour. Fading from the impressionism of my surroundings into the realism of the environment, it took only a few minutes before I saw a pointillist dot of blue flick out of the nest box. I needed to move closer.
Minutes later, after concealing myself in a tree covered fence line, within 40 feet of the box; the dots of blue transitioned to brush strokes of blue, and finally to a bluebird, landing on top of the box, grub in its beak. Ecstatic, I ran across the fields and rushed into the house to tell my wife the great news.
On that day, May19th, 2020, I learned the biopsy was positive. I had cancer. Since that day I have completed my 45 courses of radiation treatment and things look very positive. We shall see.
But that day, the day I learned I had cancer, that was a good day, that was a joyful day, that was the day I saw nesting bluebirds out on our prairie. Hell yes!
I’m David Burwell and that is my perspective.
David Burwell lives just west of Beloit, Wisconsin with his wife Gloria Mathews, on 20 acres, 15 of which is tall grass prairie. He’s a member of the Green/Rock Audubon Society of Southern Wisconsin.