I hadn't thought much about what that saying means until yesterday. Yesterday, the day I reached my capacity for the pigeons on my porch.
It started 2 months ago when a sweet mama pigeon decided to lay 2 eggs in one of the plant pots on our porch. We had our reservations about the circle of life starting on our patio, and some friends told us that they can become pests, stink and poop everywhere. But we decided, "What the heck? It'll be fun to see them hatch, see the baby birds grow, and then celebrate with them on the day when they'd leave the nest." More accurately, I thought this would be a good idea. Tyler was skeptical from the start, but I guess my idea won. I kind of wish it hadn't.
I'll tell you which part of this experience WAS exciting. It was neat to see the blue eggs one night, and then the next morning, two baby pigeons. Granted, baby pigeons are...well...not the cutest of all baby animals,
but it was still pretty neat to think about the baby bird pecking its way out of the shell, fighting for freedom, and making it into the world.
What was NOT pretty neat was the next month of pooping and chirping. The poop brought a colony of gnats and flies that were permanently hovering over the pot. The chirping might have been endearing, except that it reminded me of the poop and the flies. What REALLY got me was when I saw a new egg in a different pot. Apparently we became known as the pigeon-friendly patio. But once I found out what diseases are carried in pigeon poop (Histoplasmosis, Cryptococcosis, and Psittacosis, according to http://www.pigeonsbegone.com/pigeon-cleanup) and saw the poop all over the floor of our patio and our pots, their fate was sealed.
That night I shared my frustration with Tyler who decided it was time for the baby pigeons to learn to fly. They'd been flapping all over the patio and their grown-up wings were developed. He was just expediting what I'll bet would have happened in the next few days. He got the broom and gently invited them to try out their wings, both the babies and the three other grown-ups who had decided they liked our porch.* They haven't returned.
And there was much rejoicing.
Upon reflection, the pigeons seemed like a nice idea at the beginning. Sure, I had some idea that they might turn out to be a problem later, but I didn't want to address that when they were sweet blue eggs in a pot. So I allowed space and time for them to grow and develop, which turned out to be a potentially disease-causing nuisance.
How often have I done the same in life? Let a small habit become an addiction, spend way too much time doing things I should have said no to at the beginning, or nurturing habitual unhelpful thoughts that occupy way too much time. Next time, I'd be smart to think about what I'm giving my space, energy and time to. On the front end. So I don't end up with gnats and flies buzzing around on my porch and animal feces everywhere.
*No animals were harmed in this incident.
