Conspicuous absence

This morning I awoke to the sound of a murder of crows cawing their hearts out. I live in a residential neighborhood filled with trees and the sound of these birds is not unusual. Eventually they flew off to another area. It was what was left that surprised me. It was the sound of nothing. I recall as a child living in a similar neighborhood back East that the summer mornings were filled with the chirping of the song birds. This was a form of nature's symphony. As I strained to hear the singing of birds this morning I would eventually hear a solitary song. I wondered what had happened to silence their music. For a young child growing up in these surroundings today this would be the norm. I realized that we do not miss what we don't know. Perhaps that is why we preface the changes in our lives with, "I remember when." As we age our lives are filled with more and more of these statements. I miss the sounds of birds singing in the summer morning. I remember when the air was filled with their music. What are the "I remember whens" in your life?