Beauty through Eli's eyes

The other day Eli runs into the house exclaiming, "Mom! Mom! You have to see this bird that Gatto killed!"

Now, Gatto (the cat who has adopted us) kills numerous birds, lizards, mice, moles, etc., and loves to leave them on the porch as little gifts. I have seen many, and was in the middle of something, so I was going to decline the new opportunity.

Then Eli went on, "It is the prettiest bird you've ever seen. It is all red with a blue belly."

We don't have birds like that here, so I got up and went outside to see it.

This is what I saw:

It is a pretty ordinary bird--the kind that are always lying dead on the front porch. It is sweet and so I would have felt sad that it was killed, but I wouldn't have thought much more of it, since it is just one of the many little brown birds in the yard.

Eli is color-blind. He wasn't trying to trick me into coming out. He truly saw something beautiful in this simple little bird.

I often wonder what Eli sees and feel sad for lack of color in his world. I am such a color nut--it makes me so happy to see bright, happy colors. But this day I learned a sweet, touching lesson--Eli doesn't see what I see, but maybe sometimes what he sees is better.

That little bird was acknowledged and appreciated by Eli in a way that, perhaps, no one else could appreciate him.

Maybe we should all be a bit more "color-blind" at times.

Thanks, Eli.