The Home Front
When my youngest child, Joshua, was a teenager, he volunteered at a veterinarian clinic. He adored animals of all kinds. Joshua also worked hard building houses with his Grandaddy Jack and helping on the family farm. While enjoying my quiet time with the Lord one day and sipping my coffee with real cream, Joshua said, “Mom, my back is sore. Can you get me the heating pad?” So, I checked on him and got him the heating pad. The next day he seemed all better. But I realized that he forgot to bring back the heating pad. At the time, David and I were rejoicing the wedding of our daughter to our wonderful son-in-law Wes, and preparing to take our son, Caleb, to the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs. So, I let it slide. I had enough on my plate. A missing heating pad was the least of my worries. I was having a lot of quiet times with the Lord as a mom with a changing family dynamic while enjoying my coffee and cream. I thought I might be doing too much because my cream kept disappearing. 
Joshua joined me, David, and Caleb for the journey to Colorado to get Caleb in-processed at USAFA. We were so proud and happy for our son and his desire to serve. We three flew back home. However, I was missing my Caleb so terribly and was doing everything in my power to spoil Joshua because I realized he would be off to college in a few years as well. I spoiled him. His room was a little messy. But he studied hard and worked all the time, so I let that slide too. Until one day, I noticed a funny smell and noise coming from his room. I slowly opened his closet door. What was that noise and smell? 
I found a large plastic tub with a lid. Leading up to it was the cord of my heating pad. That rascal son of mine had something alive in there! Geez, what will I find when I take off that lid? I thought about all the animal adventures we had had with him through the years… whatever it is… I hope it doesn’t bite me. I gently lifted the lid off and the ugliest little grey looking wrinkled critter lifted its head, wrapped in soft covers and sitting on my heating pad! It had no fur, no feathers, and no identifying marks. This biology teacher couldn’t tell what it was, and I put the lid on fast. I was out the door in a heartbeat and drove to the house where my son was working. “What is that in your closet?!” The story came tumbling out. He had climbed to the top of a silo, swiped an egg from a pigeon’s nest, tucked it into the bib of his overalls, and brought it home. He really didn’t have a backache that day several weeks ago. He needed the heating pad to hatch an egg. And all that missing cream? He was feeding the baby pigeon that in place of its mother’s milk.
A pigeon. We now had a pet pigeon. Remember, David and I were spoiling Joshua as we missed both our son and our daughter. So, let me tell you that pigeon, Archimedes, had a wonderful cage and lived on our screened in porch overlooking the woods and the pond. He flew around the porch and when I worked in my potted plants, he would scratch in the dirt along with me. Joshua adored Archimedes. He was the most beautiful pigeon, and we enjoyed him for as long as we had him which was around a year. Joshua let him outside regularly to fly and stretch his wings. And one day, he never returned. Joshua is now Dr. Joshua Standridge, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and cares for many creatures every day, from snakes to chickens to bird, to dogs to cats to turtles at his Blount Animal Clinic in Alabama.
-Danna Standridge, Author of Happiness is Homemade Y’all! For speaking engagements and cooking demonstrations, email [email protected]. Join her in the kitchen on Facebook @DannaSwannStandridge and YouTube @dannastandridge8749.
Southern Parmesan Chicken (Made for Joshua)
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cups potato flakes
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1 chicken, cut up and skinned, or chicken thighs
Directions:
Heat oven to 400°F. Line baking pan with aluminum foil for ease of cleanup. Combine potato flakes, Parmesan cheese, and salt. Dip chicken in melted butter then roll it in the potato flake mixture to coat. Bake at 35-45 minutes till chicken is fork tender, the juices run clear, and the crust is golden.
