Proving He Loves Me, Again!

My poor husband! How someone like Van ended up with someone like me is beyond reason and understanding. He was put in the position last night of again doing something he considered absolutely ridiculous just because he loves me! Here's the story...

We had put the girls to bed and were about to watch Medium...definitely NOT something we can watch when they're awake...and I happened to look out the window to see a huge, beautiful seagull sitting on the beach. There seemed to be something wrong with the bird so I grabbed my binoculars to check it out more closely. He appeared to have blood on the feathers below his beak so, of course, I got upset! I asked Van to take a look. He grabbed his binoculars and checked out the emergency situation I was fretting over!

"He's just got a fish in his beak!", Van informed me. "No, wait, that's not a fish. Holy crap, he's got a starfish in his mouth!"

That sent me over the edge! I mean, how can a seagull possibly eat a starfish? Granted, this was a huge bird, but still! Nothing eats starfish! Or do they?! In my mind, the bird had somehow inadvertently gotten a starfish stuck to it's face! As you can surely imagine, I was semi-frantic! "He's going to die, isn't he?" I asked Van, referring, of course, to the bird...the starfish was obviously in the power position.

I turned around to see my beloved husband with his shoulders slumped, getting ready to go outside and attempt to save the bird's life for me!! He looked so embarrassed, yet resolved to carry my sword!

I can't even remember how many times in the past 14 years I have called this man in tears because I have come face to face with the harsh reality that is Mother Nature. A young deer stuck in a snow bank, a bird with a broken wing, kittens that have been abandoned, a deer caught on the wrong side of a dock with the tide coming in, a fish flopping in our driveway because an eagle dropped it there, a brand new fawn (still damp!) separated from it's Mommy because I drove by at the wrong moment...it goes on and on. Van has watched me in anguish so many times that he feels compelled to go against his instincts and try to reverse the tide in order to help me come to terms with fate (ie. he's actually just trying to shut me up!).

Anyway, I didn't even have to ask this wonderful man to try to save the bird, he just got up on his big white horse and was riding off...how incredible is he?!

I'm not stupid, I stopped him and told him he did not have to try to save the seagull for me. Even an ignorant optimist like me knows that the bird would just try to fly away! Instead, we watched the bird together from our living room. It was AMAZING!

The damn bird actually ate the starfish while we watched. Slowly but surely, the seagull swallowed an entire starfish! He would lift his beak straight up in the air and force the starfish farther and farther down his throat. It took 5 tries and at least 10 minutes (I don't know how long he was working on it before I noticed him). When we first saw him, he had three arms sticking out of his beak, another attempt at swallowing and there were only two arms showing. Another round and there was just the slightest bit of red sticking out but he still could not close his beak, it was jammed all the way open! Next attempt and we saw the huge lump move into the upper part of the bird's chest (I guess it's his chest!). Two more tries and the lump was completely gone...the seagull won and the starfish was in his stomach!!

The seagull hopped to the shoreline, drank some water, waited about five minutes, then flew away!

We were seriously enthralled and amazed! Neither of us had any idea a bird could swallow something as large as a starfish. What's really incredible, though, is how we bonded a tiny bit more over something as insignificant as watching a bird consume it's evening meal!