My family and I headed out to Downtown Disney yesterday to celebrate my youngest son’s 15th birthday. As we drove there, I started to reminisce about the events as they occurred on the day he was born.

The date was Feb. 7th, 1994 and it was a beautiful day. My doctor had chosen to induce me so I could resume taking some medication that I needed at the time. My in-laws arrived at my home the day before so they could stay with my older son, whom was then 5 1/2 years old, while my husband and I were at the hospital. My husband and I reported to the hospital early that morning at around 6:00 AM.

My labor was induced, I refused any medication for the pain and everything went very smoothly. My son was born naturally at 4:00 PM. At that moment, I remember being incredibly happy and picking up the phone to call my in-laws. To my surprise, no one was answering the phone and I started to get worried. However, a minute later I heard my mother-in-law’s voice. She, my father in law and older son had just walked into the hospital floor were I was at and she was asking the nurse at the front desk about my status. The nurse told her that my baby had just been born and directed them to my room.

My older son got so excited when he saw his new baby  brother.  I will never forget the first thing he said which was “mom, he looks like a puppet”. Precious words to hear from my older son. When I mentioned this in the car , to my the same son who is now 20 years old, he did not remember saying this. My husband also did not remember this.

I reminded my husband that when we got home from the hospital two days later, there were many live Peacocks waiting for us in our front yard.  No, this is not a typo. The neighborhood where I live is inhabited by many Peacocks and no, it is not normal to see wild Peacocks in Florida.

This is the story about how we got the Peacocks as it was told to me by a friend. She said that many years ago, a elderly couple had two Peacocks living with them as pets. This was against our city rules and ordinances as our area is not zoned for any kind of wildlife. The couple went away on a short vacation one time and while they were gone, the Peacocks escaped. They were found much later, but by then had reproduced and pretty soon our whole neighborhood had a colony of Peacocks.

Getting back to my original story, I wondered how in the world did the Peacocks decide to surround my front yard that day? Did the Peacocks sense that a new life would be coming back to my home that day?  It was as though they trying to celebrate with us the birth of our new baby.

When we arrived at my home from the hospital, my in-laws automobile and my other car were inside my garage.  Therefore, my husband and I had to park in our driveway and carefully navigate through the crowd of Peacocks. I was kind of worried that they might try to attack the car seat as I got out of my car with our new baby. This was because I had previously seen them take an defensive stand against other people and also animals. However, I should not have worried as they seem to get out of my way as I got out of my car to let me pass.

Well, it been a great journey since then. I believe that everything happens for a reason. While I cannot claim to know the reason why the Peacocks chose to surround my home that day, I can only speculate that maybe they sensed my son would live a good life and be a wonderful son to have. If that was the reason, then I guess they got it right.

My son is now 15 years old and I could not be any prouder as a mom.He is now a ninth grader and made the honor roll this semester. His GPA of 3.00 was higher than I ever achieved in ninth grade. We celebrated his birthday by going out to eat at. “The House of Blues, taking him shopping at the Lego store there and watching the movie, “Push”.  Needless to say, we had a wonderful time.

Here are some pictures of my son and some pictures of the Peacocks that I took at a much later date:

My older son meets his younger baby brother for the first time.

My son during the Science Fair last school year.

My son showing off the ribbon he won when he placed fourth place for the Junior Environmental Science division.

My son and I on vacation last summer at one of the caverns in North Carolina

Here is a picture of a Peacock in my backyard.

Here is another picture of a Peacock on my back yard.

Here is another picture of a Peacock in my backyard.

Here is a picture of a group of Peacocks in my backyard