A part of rather than apart from - 2024 05 20

 

I was out walking Adele, as we do three times a day. 

I am often distracted by 'life on life's terms' and making sense of the latest teachable moments I encounter in my day to day life. Each day I face the challenge of constructing a sense of feeling a part of rather than feeling apart from. I seek connectedness, belonging, security.

As I walked past a small shrub, there was a big crow climbing in the branches, not a few feet from me. I instinctively reached for my camera, hoping to collect an image for drawing later, but the branches were in the way and the crow was obscured by leaves. 

I said to the crow, "Good morning, neighbour!" In a friendly, welcoming tone.

Neighbour Crow flapped out of the shrub and up onto the corner of the roof of the closest house, peering down at me.

"Whose a good bird?" I asked. "Whose a good bird?"

Neighbour Crow flew down and perched on a gate, looking at me. 

"You are a good bird! What a good bird! Such a good bird!" I took out my camera and started shooting images as fast as I could. The light, the subject, the poses, were all perfect.

Neighbour Crow looked at me, looked around, and looked quizzically at me, again. 

"What a pretty bird! You are such a good bird. Hello, bird!" 

With one last glance at me, Neighbour Crow flapped off, alighting on a small tree further up the sidewalk. As we walked past, I looked back to see if she was going to walk with us. She stayed where she was.

"Thank you, neighbour! Have a nice day."

Later that afternoon, I sat down with the first image, a pen, and a piece of drawing paper. As I closely observed the edges of the crow in the photographic image, I felt I was touching that lovely creature who spent time with us on our walk. 

In all the vastness of the universe, we shared a fleeing encounter and I experienced timeless eternity in that moment. Of all the teachable moments of this day, Neighbour Crow is reminding me, "You are a good bird! Such a good bird!"