In case you’re wondering, and I hope you are, the headline means ‘Happy New Year’ in Hawaiian.
am sitting on the balcony of our condo in Princeville, Kauai. Slender palm trees are swaying to the left and right of me and the surf of the Pacific Ocean is pounding into the beach below. Its rhythmic roar is occasionally punctuated by sonorous honks from Hawaii’s state bird, the nene.
I’m here because my extended family has all gathered to ring in the new year together. Some two decades ago, my mom and stepdad purchased a condo on the Garden Isle of Kauai and we’ve been making the long voyage to the fourth largest island in the Hawaiian chain on and off ever since. This year has been a particularly difficult journey, not only because we’re traveling during the complicated time of ever-changing restrictions connected with Covid, but also because we know this will be our last time to visit collectively.
Dear readers, both my parents are in their eighties and my stepdad’s physical health is declining at the same he is also experiencing the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Mom has decided to sell the condo. So, we’re committed to squeezing every last little bit of joy out of this holiday trip. Watching a rainbow over Hanalei Bay takes on more significance than ever before. A slow, hand-in-hand stroll along a glittering beach becomes a walk through time as daughter Lulu asks her grammee, “How many years does it take to make sand?”
In the distant ocean view from their window, my sister and her husband saw a humpback whale breach and spout. It was barely visible with the naked eye. Yet the briefest image of that majestic beast stirred something in the souls of each of us. I didn’t even catch a glimpse, but I was thrilled nonetheless.
Oftentimes, the most powerful of life’s lessons come from moments that might seem small at the time.
Imagine, now, if you can, how your life might change if you glanced down near your feet and noticed a tiny, nearly featherless creature crawling through the grass. You reach down and pick it up. It’s a baby bird. You call your wife and give it to her.
That’s exactly what happened to Carol Dumeyer when she responded to a call from her husband Dave.
Figuring the bird was only about a week old and knowing it would be best looked after by its parents, she first tried to locate the nest it had fallen out of. No luck. Carol was faced with a decision. Either return it to the elements and let nature take its course or take it home and embark on the exhausting routine of trying to raise it. Carol chose the latter although the odds were stacked against her that the bird would survive.
Not only did it survive, it thrived. He is now named Mr Baby Snuggles and happens to live on the island of Kauai. I first learned about Snugs, as Carol nicknamed him, through the YouTube channel, GeoBeats Animals back in October. The story was so inspiring, I looked her up on Instagram (@mrbabysnuggles) and discovered she was based on the very island I was preparing to travel to later in December. I sent her a DM asking to meet. Last week, Carol and Snugs were kind enough to host me.
Hatchlings need to be fed by a syringe every two hours from sunrise to sunset. Carol committed to the task. That was two years ago, and that skinny little hatchling is now a red-beaked, fluffy grey and white adult male Java Sparrow. We take care of our own babies because they’re our family. But how much care do we provide our co-workers? Our employees? Our neighbours? Strangers in need?
When I drove up to their home, Carol greeted me with Snugs perched on her shoulder. We walked together into her home where he proceeded to hop on her hand, over to a bouquet of wild plants with seeds that he nibbled with relish. He even hopped onto my head. He chirped and bobbed and was simply at ease. But what really got me about Snugs is that he comes and goes as he pleases. This bird actually flies out to a tree at night to roost and then returns in the morning for breakfast. He flies inside the house and back out again at will.
“This isn’t a bird with clipped wings,” Carol told me. “I will never take his flight away.”
Carol and Dave own four businesses between them including a yoga studio and an interior design company. “With 20 employees, we realise we have to trust them and give them room for growth and not hold them down. It’s the same with Snugs.”
Carol is now at a crossroads as the new year is bringing a move to a new home on the other side of the island. Snugs will travel to the new home on Carol’s shoulder in their car. He’s already made a few practice trips. But he will still be free. One night he may decide to return to his flock’s tree.
Carol and I shed a few tears thinking about it. But it’s the same with any relationship, isn’t it?
“The intense amount of communication we have with this creature, has made me reconsider my connection to every living creature,” Carol said, “As with any relationship, we go in with hope that it will survive and that it will work. You put your best foot forward and just keep at it.”
Each of us already has the important emotional ingredients like patience, compassion, empathy and curiosity inside of us. We only need to pause and truly contemplate the significance of our relationship, the rainbow, the grain of sand, the proverbial bird in our hand.
Maholo (thank you), Carol and Snugs. Here’s to a new year of meaningful connections.
