Every now and then, I pull a prompt from a compiled list of English idioms, and I’m sure there will be a smattering of them on this site. I find the combination of language, its history, and a personal interpretation very satisfying.

“The Early Bird” encapsulates much of my life as a single parent, though I was only able to truly render this piece after I was no longer such a thing. Inside of that situation, the world was too harried, too swift. Resources were too short, and obligations too long. 

I often felt as though I spent an inordinate amount of time scrounging for one measly, though still somehow elusive, worm. Sometimes it represents finances, or quality time. Sometimes it is the stability required to keep all of your promises (or the heavy and deliberate willpower to say maybe to everything, because you are afraid of making promises at all for fear you’ll be unable to keep them}. Perhaps the worm is simply the energy to drum up a proper tooth fairy, to leap on a trampoline even though you might pee a little (or a lot), to laugh at a knock knock joke that isn’t even funny and probably has the word poop in it at least once. To cook yet another dinner while envisioning what it must be like to order takeout whenever you want it because you don’t really remember. To smile and speak softly while changing a diaper so your baby learns to be at home within their body from the time they are born in even little ways they will not remember, but that will be a part of them even still. To have a dance party in the front lawn. To teach your children to love nature with a single potted plant because you have no lawn. To apologize to your children when you are in the wrong. To bite your tongue. To converse earnestly. 

This piece was designed to be a message of hope to those who are living as I have. If you are pursuing growth, embracing change, and attempting to hold onto kindness, it will get better. What you see as a pathetic offering is often cherished by your children and your loved ones, especially later in life. What you bring to the table is valuable, no matter how small. No one is perfect. If you make a mistake, dust yourself off and try again. All these things I have learned from my own parents, who overcame and found one another after their own bout as single parents. 

My father is fond of quoting Shakespeare’s Henry V, “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.” 

My mother is more likely to remember this verse from the book of Joshua, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

This piece is for every person wading through tribulation, for we all have areas in which we are striving in spite of whatever obstacles lie in our path.