mom, it's not about THE BIRDS!

... Alex yelled as she tried to recover from a foiled attempt to pee on the side of a road. She's tried several techniques in the past, but each time she ends up getting more wet than the ground she's urinating on. (Maybe girlscouts would be a good idea after all!) At any rate, this attempt was no exception, and by the tone of her voice, I could tell she was about to crash bigtime.

I had an equally or more important task. Just as we pulled off the side of the road in Wallonia, a pair of gulls flew overhead with black backs and wings - one juvenile and one adult. Of course, I was trying to figure out if they were greater or lesser black-backed gulls (grote of kleine mantelmeeuw), and with just a few microseconds I would've had it. But no ...

"MOM, it's not about THE BIRDS - it's about ME!", and then I knew I had to abandon my mission and help my 9 year-old go potty. I should've been happy that the kids agreed to join me on a bird-chasing expedition in the first place, but I was still disappointed. We didn't see any new birds, but we did manage to find a really HOT shorebird migration stopover site (Boneffe, BE).

But therein lies a parent's dilemma: spending time w family vs. spending time doing the things that keep you sane. It's hard to find the right balance, but it's so important to keep trying. When Alex made her proclamation, little did she know that she nailed the big issue in my life!