Mother Nature for Mother's day!

Understanding a Mom
We have a small pond in our yard and quite often we have Geese and Blue Heron and Ducks, along with other animals. There are two geese in particular that stand out because they stay the entire summer and have made this area their home.

Something I had observed that helped me to understand the commitment and unconditional love a mother has for her siblings was through these geese in our pond. Mother Nature couldn't have expressed the dedication of a mother to me any better than what I had observed while watching momma goose.

[CENTER]Momma Goose
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It was early spring and momma goose had a nest about 4 feet from shore. It looked like a mound coming out of the water and she was sitting there day after day. As every day went by, I noticed momma goose never moved. She didn't step away to eat; she didn't go for a leisurely swim, momma goose just sat. Papa goose always stayed in the area, but he had the freedom to roam around and move to different ponds but it was easy enough to see that he was there to protect her and I have to assume he brought her food and whatever it was she needed.

One bright spring day I looked over at momma goose and she was sitting on her nest, surrounded by turtles sunning themselves. Didn't look at all like it bothered her and there must have been 10 or more turtles surrounding her on the base of this mound she had for a nest.

Needless to say, momma goose had not moved from this spot since she first sat down on her eggs. Night and day, sun and rain, momma goose was steadfast in protecting her eggs.

Then one day, the weather report was grim. We were expecting very high winds and a hail-storm. Naturally, at this point I thought about momma goose and wished there were something I could do to help protect her from the storm. Not ever seeing this in nature, I figured that maybe she'd move from her nest temporarily and possibly move her eggs to a more protected area.

[CENTER]The Storm
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Then the storm came... Extremely high wind gusts that hit 40-60 mph and with that came the hail. Not small hail, but very large hail and it was certainly something you didn't want to be out in. Around the area, trees were losing branches, roofs were losing shingles, and there was debris blowing everywhere along with power outages and all the normal things that happen during a high wind and hail storm. As I ran for cover inside my home, I looked out and seen momma goose. She was still there. I could see her swaying and getting pelted with the hail and her feathers turned up due to the high wind. There were branches and leaves and misc. debris hitting her and blowing everywhere. There were no turtles out, and there were no other birds and no other geese. The only animal in the pond was this momma goose, sitting out on her nest, protecting her eggs as nature delivered this terrible storm.

Naturally, I wanted to know what papa goose was doing and where he was. So, from my window I looked out in search of papa goose... I found him. He was about 50 yards away from momma goose tucked deeply under a tree in the weeds, protecting himself from the storm.

[CENTER]Tattered and Torn
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As the storm went into the evening it became dark and soon the storm was over. I couldn't see momma goose anymore but I was concerned about her condition. Anyone in his or her right mind would not have stayed in such a terrible storm. Morning came and the sun came up and while drinking my coffee, I looked out at the pond and there she was, momma goose... steadfast and dedicated, her tattered and torn body covering her eggs, and debris from the storm floating around the pond. I thought for sure she had been killed by the storm... but then I seen her head move and soon papa goose came swimming around and I was relieved they were both alive.

Approximately two weeks later, and after sitting on those eggs for more than a month without moving. We finally saw momma and papa goose with three little goslings, both walking with the goslings between them.

We now see the momma goose and papa with the three little goslings often and they come into our yard. It's a pleasure to see the caring devotion that this mother gives to her little ones. Be it a raccoon, dog, human, ... it's without a doubt that this mother will weather any storm and face any adversity that comes in the way of her goslings.

Nature

It was this simple example in nature that made me realize how devoted and strong a mother is. Nature has provided something very special in a mother that is simply not a part of a man's world. It's often taken for granted the kindness, devotion, and steadfast love that a mother brings to the table. It's inherent in nature that a mother is very special and only a mother can do what a mother does.

In closing, Happy Mother's Day to all those moms out there. Thank you for being you.