Here’s the thing. I typically let people know up front two basic facts about myself:

1. I don’t do numbers.
2. I am directionally-challenged.

If you’re cool with that, the rest is easy. Clearly she hadn’t gotten that memo and I was it: her only shot at getting to the auditorium in time for the graduation. The pressure was on and I wasn’t going to let her down.

Thankfully, I knew the auditorium and on which college campus it is located. I also knew we were very close and I could get there on my own, but to give someone else directions? My pulse increased. My palms got a little sweaty. I doubted my ability. I forgot street names. I whipped out the Maps app and showed her how close she was and how easy it would be to get there.

I was a regular Dora with my trusty purple backpack (secretly disguised as an iPhone) and my ever-handy Map at my beck and call safely tucked inside! Feeling like I’d just conquered Mars, I ventured to ask her from where she’s visiting and she told me she recently moved here and is still learning her way around town.

Always the chatty conversationalist, because standing in the middle of the road is a good place for that, I next asked what brought her here and I smiled as she said it was to take care of her mother, but then her eyes teared up when she followed that with, “But mama didn’t make it.”

When I reached through the car window to squeeze her hand in sorrow, I hope she realized how much I wished I had an app to make it all better. But I’m so glad she stopped me in the middle of the street so I could be the one to welcome her to this beautiful city, where I hope she’ll find her own way very very soon.

I haven’t seen Mama Bird in three days, and I’ve been anxiously looking for her, but now I know she’s not coming back. I’ve been speculating as to the cause of her sudden disappearance, and I can’t come up with a viable explanation. All my knowledge (read: no knowledge) of ornithology can’t explain what causes a mother to abandon her children.

Were there early warning signs? Perhaps. She always seemed overly skittish and a bit too eager to flit away from the nest whenever I walked past. I mean, she IS the one who chose to build next to MY front door. Besides, if she’d paid close attention she would have noticed that I never actually came near; I always wanted to give her the space and distance she needed. I only took my pictures when she was away from the nest; I certainly didn’t drive her out to indulge my trigger happy finger.

Did she just get bored? In all my fourteen years (plus nine additional months if you count them) of mothering I can’t think of one single moment of boredom. Exhaustion, yes, but boredom? Never.

Did she think becoming a mother would be easier? Certainly there is no quick fix to any of life’s challenges and no one has the sole solution for being a super mom, but we each have plenty of opportunities to be amazing in our own little spheres with our own little flock.

Did she get a better offer? This is a painful question to answer. And I don’t think we can answer it for anyone but ourselves, but we all know at least one person, don’t we? You know – that person who is technically a parent (read: sperm donor), yet they aren’t parenting. In fact, they’re living a life that would suggest they are completely unaware their genes had any descendents at all! They come in all shapes and sizes, and all forms of uninvolved. But that’s probably a separate conversation altogether, isn’t it?

Did she get gobbled up by a predator? Maaaybe, but I don’t see any evidence of it at all. Wouldn’t there be some suspicious feather dusting on the ground or in the nest? Signs of a scuffle? Her last attempt to keep her eggs warm at all cost? Is there anything threatening to gobble us up, to consume us in such a way that would prevent us from being present with our children? If so, take Peggy Sue‘s mother’s advice and “Stay away from it.”

My heart is surprisingly heavy with the reality of Mama Bird’s departure. I’ve been eagerly watching the progress of her growing family and I feel as if all that she’s left behind are unanswered questions, three abandoned eggs, plus one dead plant. How long should I mourn the loss? I need to move on and replace the hanging basket. But all I want to do is thank my parents for keeping us warm and safe and close together. Our nest was crowded, but I never ever worried that someone might fly away and not come back.

Second shout out goes to Stacey Seguin, owner of palooza online dot com for her willingness to have this discussion with me in the first place! She was a really great sport and I sincerely appreciate her time between preparations for her son’s birthday party, Mother’s Day and Skype not wanting to cooperate.

Third, if you’re not aware, I host the online book club over at ten to twenty dot com and am a regular contributing author on a myriad of topics related to parenting kids between the ages of ten and (you guessed it) twenty! Bop over for a look at our site and you’ll likely find something of interest to you.

Now, sit back and enjoy the discussion about Brandon Mull’s A World Without Heroes. I reviewed the book here, in case you haven’t read it yet. Don’t worry; there are no spoilers in either the review or the video discussion. I’d love to hear what you think about the vlog, the book, and what other books you’d love for me to review. And – if you’re interested in being my next discussion buddy, please let me know!

During recent freakish monsoon-like spring rain storms, I quietly watched as the mama bird stayed on her nest, protecting her precious eggs from the rain, the wind, the cold, and her neighbor‘s prying camera.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mama bird neighbor, and to all the mama birds who amaze me daily. Look around and you’ll see mothers of every shape, size, color and feather.

• They rise earlier than anyone else in their nest to feed their flock.
• They manage multiple schedules to a fault.
• They drive across town and back more times than the city transit.
• They may not have any babies at all because something happened to their eggs.
• They know the needs of their little ones before the little ones know it.
• They give better hugs than anyone else.
• They fly alone.
• They tag team.
• They are a well-oiled machine getting done for everyone else.
• They are tired, but happy.
• They know your faults and love you even more.
• They hurt on the inside where no one else can see.
• They love, no matter what.

1. When The Empire Strikes Back hit theatres (for the first time) I insisted my dad include me on the boys’ outing.
2. Watching the newest episode of Battlestar Galactica (yup – the original) was the highlight of my week and I thought Lt. Starbuck was the funniest and cutest guy I’d ever seen.
3. When my passion for Starbuck fizzled, Star Trek was always there to fill my intergalactic need.
4. And I thought I was in heaven when the movie The Wrath of Kahn hit the big screen. Remember the torture scene with the bug crawling into his ear? Yeah, me, too.
5. How could my life possibly get any better when the entire franchise got a reboot with The Next Generation and Captain Jean-Luc Picard?! Patrick Stewart was perfect.
6. Opening weekend in 2009 of the newest Star Trek Movie found me in the theatre (three times) and I purchased it as soon as it was available on DVD. When is the sequel coming?!
7. Technology makes me happy and there is always a legitimate reason to upgrade my iPhone.
8. The day my MacBook Pro arrived I laughed, I cried, I took pictures (more than I’ll admit to you), and no one else has been allowed to touch it since.

Okay, I’ll stop. But I could continue. There are obvious gaps in this timeline, but don’t worry – they are filled with happy memories of metal lunchboxes, Princess Leia action figures, religious viewing of the Thundercats series, and regular mentions of droids.

All of this to tell you how excited I was to receive an early Mother’s Day gift:

How AWESOME is this?!!! It holds my phone, charges it AND lets me glance at my favorite GPS app (Waze) without taking my hands off the wheel. Don’t worry – Waze gives me voice commands through the car’s Bluetooth technology (cool, right?!), so I am not reliant on the visual to get me where I’m going.

So from me to you, I hope you get everything you want for Mother’s Day, but this girl is one happy geek.

The part I like best about being sick is getting better. After all the yuck, that moment when my head feels clear again and I’m thinking lucid thoughts is beautiful because in that moment I realize what a gift our health is to each of us.

I am (usually) one of the healthiest people I know. There are a handful of people who love me who would tell you that I run too fast, too frequently and burn the candle at both ends and that’s why I end up so depleted when I do get sick, but we’re not here to talk about that. The good news is that I am back to my energetic self.

Today in honor of my return to normal I want to stand on my soapbox and remind you that you control 100% of what goes into your body. Good health doesn’t just happen by accident. It’s a gift we give ourselves through the choices we make each day.

1. Choose to drink water. Here are 9 good reasons why.
2. Choose to exercise regularly. I love keeping track of my activity with fitbit.
3. Choose to eat more organics. Because chemicals are bad for you and 9 more reasons here. And if you can’t go all organic, start with these 17 items at least.
4. Choose to get enough sleep. You really do need 7-9 hours nightly; trust me on this one.
5. Choose to read for pleasure. Need some reasons? Here are five.
6. Choose to laugh. As if you need an excuse, here are eight to get you started.

What else should we add to our list of daily choices?

“Let’s be friends the old-fashioned way instead!” I suggested as I turned to leave, and I’m not sure what that might mean to the two teenagers grumbling behind me because they could no longer access their email, Pinterest, Instagram, FaceTime or YouTube.

My parents, excited to offer us all the technological advancement available at the time, purchased an Apple IIe when I was a freshman in high school. They convinced us this machine, along with the huge dot matrix printer, both of which now occupied a lot of real estate in our dining room, were going to help me with my schoolwork. I can still feel those molded keys under my inexperienced fingers as I laboriously typed out an assignment for my science class and waited for what seemed hours as the printer screeched back and forth across the page as it rolled through the side-punched holes feeding its progression, a step above typewriters, and I knew I was cool to have so much technology at my fingertips.

My daughter doesn’t know anything BUT having access to computers – at home, at school, in libraries, wherever she goes. All of her school assignments are submitted using Google Docs and any required research happens via the internet. Did she recognize the card catalogs we passed yesterday walking through antique stores? My parents also purchased the World Book Encyclopedias for our use at home, and sometimes I wonder if my daughter even knows how to look up something alphabetically in a book with paper pages. As she starts her freshman year of high school she has her own MacBook Pro with the ability to send a file to print at home, even if she’s not, and she doesn’t know what it means to re-thread the paper if it gets off-track, being careful not to separate the perforated holes from the standard sheet.

If I wanted to talk with my friends, I had to wait my turn to use the telephone mounted on our kitchen wall. (And this phone pictured looks EXACTLY like the one we had for years.) There were ten people in our home, so sometimes waiting your turn could mean you wait until tomorrow. And you were always in a very public space when speaking to anyone, although my mom put an extra long cord on the phone so you could walk the length of the kitchen without compromising your call, but public is public.

My daughter has owned her own cell phone from the age of nine even though I’m not sure she’s used more than 60 minutes of air time since I activated her plan. She only uses it to text. Even when she needs to communicate with me. Perhaps one day our cell phone provider will allow me to purchase a text-only plan, with optional voice minutes. Wouldn’t that be a dream-come-true?

When I spent time with friends we giggled in the backseat of the station wagon and bragged about our sticker collections, which Michael Jackson song was our favorite, and how many layers of socks we could successfully roll. My daughter sits next to her girlfriends and they iMessage one another while bragging about how many people have *liked* their photos on Instagram, and debate which game in the app store is their current favorite. I guess the way we manage our friendships isn’t so different, after all, because there’s still a whole lot of giggling.

1. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but this home was! And it’s directly out my front door.2. Within 24 hours, the eggs started arriving. At final count there were four eggs.3. Three days ago I noticed even more pine needles and now grass sticking up and around the perimeter of the nest.4. Two days ago the mother bird got situated and she only leaves the nest when I’m staring at her for too long. And even then she only flies a short distance into the nearest “safe” bush, where she can see her nest clearly. If you look closely at this picture, you’ll be able to see her head peeking up from the center of the nest – just to the right of the suspension cord pictured in the center of the image.I don’t know how long we have to wait. Do you think she’s hoping to have them here by Mother’s Day? That gives her ten days to really heat things up a bit. All I know is the petunia plant is no longer a viable plant; it’s a nest, and unless it rains, those flowers won’t be getting any water from me. I guess the mama bird will be fine, although she’s built her home in a low-hanging basket, so let this be a warning to all neighborhood cats: STAY AWAY OR I’LL SICK RAZOR ON YOU.

Author: Brandon Mull

It’s About: Jason loves baseball and wants to be a zoologist when he grows up. Not a hero. He’s hoping that the cute girl in his class notices him. Not some evil wizard. But since life never quite turns out the way we expect, Jason finds himself in an alternate reality on a mission to overthrow Maldor, the dark emperor ruling with fear over the people of Lyrian. Jason and fellow Beyonder Rachel accept as their quest the search for the one word that will defeat Maldor.

Here’s a video overview of the book:

I Thought: Having read (and loved) Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven series, I am not surprised to feel this first in the Beyonders series is a bit too evenly-paced and lays the groundwork for what is yet to come in books two and three. While there is plenty of activity, it’s predictable and not very suspenseful, making it a good story for younger readers.

Look – Brandon’s creating a whole new world, with different creatures and sometimes languages and customs and traditions and histories and geographies and political infrastructures and the Who’s Who of Lyrian! This book gives us our road map for what’s to come. I enjoyed it. I like what I’ve read so far. I’m just ready for the more involved plot line that I know is coming with the next book, and I am ready for the action to pick up and to be faster-paced.

As with his previous books, Brandon Mull imbues his main characters with morals and integrity, and there is always a choice between good and better, or worse. Jason and Rachel face these choices and their consequences in A World Without Heroes, and I look forward to seeing them grow into their chosen roles as the series continues.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf! I’ve got a good feeling about this series!

Reading Recommendation: Ages 8 and up!

Favorite Quote: “So many misconceptions surround the notion of heroism. Far too many categorize a hero as a champion on the battlefield, a commander of legions, a master of rare talent or ability. Granted, there have been heroes who fit those descriptions. But many men of great evil as well. Heed me. A hero sacrifices for the greater good. A hero is true to his or her conscience. In short, heroism means doing the right thing regardless of the consequences. Although any person could fit that description, very few do. Choose this day to be one of them.”

One of my nephews is now all grown up and living on his own on the other side of the country. He was in town for a few days and called to see if he could stop by to visit with us for a little while before flying back home tomorrow. The only time slot to see both of us was at 9:30 at night.

9:30pm is really not the optimal time to visit with me about anything. My brain function (what’s left of it) has completely shut down for the night. My fingers feel like dead weight at the ends of my hands and don’t move when my brain, which you’ll remember has stopped functioning, sends a message to them. My eyes have only one purpose and that is to have no purpose until morning. And my body progressively shrinks as it compresses into the fetal position, no matter where I’m sitting.

But when my nephew and his sister and brother arrived, my rocking chair vantage point never felt so good. All iDevices were shut down and at my nephew’s insistence, my daughter retrieved a couple of guitars. They played together. They sang together. They laughed together. We were all simply together. Happiness.

Oh, and the camera turning sideways there at the very end? Look at the clock on the wall. Remember, it was waaaay past my bedtime.