It is Saturday, 7:09 a.m.

A hot cup of Bustelo Supreme Espresso coffee warms my hands.

I am sitting in one of my favorite places to write.

I look through glass doors and windows,

searching for iguanas, squirrels, and birds.

This morning, it is the squirrels that catch my eye,

baby squirrels, two of them.

I watch as one jumps from a

pink plumeria tree to a ponytail palm,

disappearing into an areca palm,

until it reaches the electrical wires

where another baby squirrel waits.

They scurry along the wires

as if they have done it for years.

When did they arrive?

I hadn’t noticed a pregnant mama climbing trees,

running along the fence and wire lines.

Yet her babies are here.

There is so much living

and dying

going on all around us.

While death can make a grand departure,

new life can arrive without an audience,

without the blink of an appreciative eye.

I am smiling because today I paused.

Today I appreciate their arrival.

Today I noticed two new, tiny lives.