Pájaro a pájaro: What's with the Blog Title?

       If you ask anyone in my family, they'll tell you I'm a square peg in a family full of round ones. Unlike my quiet, shy parents and older brother, I'm extremely extroverted. I love to be social and get a rush out of traveling to far-off places, meeting new people and learning about different cultures. Ask anyone who knew me in high school, and they'll tell you I was an active participant in the theater program, singing and dancing my way through all four years. My parents swear they have no idea where this "gene" came from, and my brother's affinity for math and science (not rhythm and blues) is even further proof. Another trait possessed by this square peg? I have a very hard time seeing the forest through the trees.
       Throughout high school and college, and even to this day, I have trouble focusing on the big picture instead of the minute details. Whenever I get caught up in a whirlwind of stress, I turn to my mother. For many odd years she has been my greatest source of advice and encouragement, and every time she tells me the same thing, "Bird by bird." 
       This might seem strange to anyone who isn't familiar with author Anne Lamott. In her book, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Lamott recounts a story about her older brother. She writes, "Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"
       One step at a time, one day at a time, bird by bird, pájaro a pájaro. However you say it, the meaning is the same: Take what life gives you one thing at a time. I hope in my future classes that my students will learn to see the forest through the trees, and teach me a little more about taking things bird by bird.