The pigeon had opinions

Margaret came over this afternoon with a tin of those sesame cookies she always brings — the ones I keep telling myself I’ll only eat two of — and we were mid-conversation about the archive coordination work when the pigeon showed up. Just landed on the windowsill like it had a reservation. Big grey city pigeon, completely unbothered, looking directly at us.

The pigeon had opinions

We both went completely still. I don’t know why. It’s a pigeon. It wasn’t going to do anything. But there’s something about being watched by a bird through your own window that makes you feel like the one who’s intruding. Margaret didn’t even put down her tea. We just held the freeze for probably forty-five seconds until it flew off, and then we both exhaled and started laughing at the same time.

Jake apparently watched the whole thing from the living room and said nothing. Just quietly took a photo of us staring at the empty windowsill afterward. Very him.

The moment after. Margaret was much more composed about it than I was.

I’ve been deep in the family archive coordination lately — Margaret connected me with three families a few weeks ago and the complexity of that work has been sitting heavy — and I think I needed exactly this. A Tuesday afternoon, good tea, a completely meaningless pigeon interruption, and someone to laugh about it with. Margaret has this quality where nothing feels urgent in her presence. I don’t fully understand how she does it, but I’m grateful for it every single time.