I almost lost it this morning.

I’m not what one would call a religious person by any stretch of the imagination – despite being a priest’s kid – but I did attend the Easter service at the nearby Episcopal church this morning with my mother.

So there were, standing patiently while listening to the priest sing the Doxology: praising god, specifically on this day for the miracle of the resurrection & the glory of everlasting life … when suddenly, without any warning, WHAM, one of the beautiful, graceful birds I’d been watching throughout the service through the windows behind the alter slams full on into the window on the right. It was all I could do to hold it together.

Don’t misunderstand, it really does pain me every time I see a bird hit a window. I used to see them all the time in Chicago on my way to work in the mornings because they’d often hit the skyscrapers in the early morning. In fact I even knew a couple people who volunteered for an organization sending people out every morning to retrieve them & track how many & what species were hitting. Wonderful cause! The reason I was so perilously close to guffawing out loud was not because the poor bird hit the window (& likely was killed), it was because of the timing. There’s everybody singing praises to god & Jesus for the miracle of overcoming death to give to the human species everlasting life, & right in the middle of it all, a life is wiped out all because of a window. Ok, so it’s dark humor. I really do like birds. Really.

But come on, it is pretty amusing, right?