It felt just like a gift…

I mentioned to my sister in law in Provo last Sunday evening that I had really wanted to go to Logan Canyon to a place with a lot of hummingbirds to take some pictures with my new camera.  She immediately told me that she knew a place with a lot of hummingbirds up near the Provo temple and that we should go look.  We told the kids we were going, hopped into the car, and drove towards the Provo temple.

The sight that waited for us was amazing.  One of her co-workers lived at the mouth of Rock Canyon and had a large pine tree in her front yard.  In front of the pine tree she had several hummingbird feeders.  I have never seen anything like the hummingbirds feeding in her yard—there were 6 or more around a single feeder at times.  It was amazing.  I took pictures, but it was late enough in the day that they were pretty dark.  As we left the friend invited us to come back any time to see the hummingbirds.

And so I did.  The very next day when I’d taken my kids to play with their cousins and I had some time to myself.  I stood quietly in her yard and snapped picture after picture, enjoying the beauty of the moment.  Then later that day I accidentally deleted every single picture.

I almost felt sick to my stomach—I just couldn’t believe I’d done it.   I’ve never accidentally deleted anything, and I couldn’t believe it had finally happened.  I told myself that it was ok and it was.  I can go back to her house if I want.  I could have gone back last week if I’d wanted.  But I just felt discouraged.

I also felt kind of sad—thinking about how much fun I’d had watching my hummers on my deck from my kitchen window in North Carolina.  I’d put a hummingbird feeder up in our back yard here in Oregon, but so far I hadn’t seen anything.  And it was far enough away that I couldn’t really see any hummingbirds without my glasses (which I rarely wear in the house) like I could in North Carolina.  I was just sad.

 

Last night after we’d arrived back home Russ mentioned something about having scared off a hummingbird while he was sitting outside on the deck.  I laughed with him but didn’t think much of it.  Until this morning, when I was sitting in my blue chair emailing Jason and I looked up and saw this, probably only about 8 feet from me.

At first I was surprised—did Russ move the hummingbird feeder?  But then I remembered that the squirrels had been shaking the hummingbird feeder so much a few days before we left for Utah that I’d decided I should move it to the pole over by my bedroom.  So there it was—not 10 feet from me.  I asked one of the girls to bring me my camera and every time I saw a bird I tried taking a few pictures. 

And the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking—what a gift.  Hummingbirds right here, right in this place, right by my bedroom.  Just for me…