It was this time last year that we first met Tiny.

Spring had finally come to Michigan, and the robins began building their nests, hopping around and collecting twigs, just like they’re doing now. And the one I saw on the lawn today, I’m wondering if that might be Tiny… but of course, I’ll never know.

Tiny’s story began in a scrawny nest, built in our ladders, just one year ago…

We were worried from the beginning, my son and I.

His blue egg was the last to be laid, the smallest of the four, the final one to hatch.

And when he finally did make an appearance, he always seemed to be buried beneath his brothers, pushed out of the way when the tasty worms were dangled, and always the last to be fed by his mama.

And so it came as no surprise when he was left alone in the nest. Of course he would be the last to fly.

But it wasn’t long before we realized something was wrong. Tiny wasn’t flying. He wasn’t flexing his tiny wings. In fact, he wasn’t feeding. Where was Mama? Busy feeding his brothers, we supposed.

So Tiny lay, hot and panting, in the scrawny nest, as his little cries became weaker.

But then, the next day, the nest was empty! Hurrah! Tiny must have flown, we thought.

But sadly, it wasn’t so. He lay, immobile, in a pile of leaves, barely breathing. We left him there, hoping Mama would come. But she never did. All day he lay, too weak to chirp, or move, in the leaves.

And when the storms came that night, Tiny became wet and totally bedraggled. That’s when we decided to help him, because left alone, he would never have made it through the night.

It was dark. We used a flashlight as my son picked him up gently and placed him back in the nest, where he would be safe from predators. And then we fed him, using a baster filled with pureed cat food.

My son set his alarm so he could feed him early in the morning. And all that day we fed him, as he began to chirp again and flex his little wings.

It was then that Mama returned, and the next morning, our baby was gone.

He was back in the leaves, but this time, he was hopping towards his mama as she coaxed and called and encouraged him.

Tiny was last seen in the neighbor’s yard, being fed juicy worms by Mama. He can’t quite fly yet, but my son and I, we’re letting go of Tiny, and we’re holding on to hope.