Bird Droppings March 10, 2025
Why is it when putting a puzzle together, a piece is always left behind?

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another!” Gail Sheehy, American journalist, author

It has been a most interesting couple of days, even weeks, for me. All weekend was an exciting, enjoyable, and learning experience with three of our grandchildren. We played, snuggled, played, went to the park, went to the mall, went to soccer games, read books, and each new thought process lends to excitement. I sat and watched yesterday as my wife and one of the kids talked at the park, and then when we got home, they were playing with some puzzles, one of which was a puzzle of letters and animals. He knew each letter and the only animals that threw him off were a skunk and quail. I was floored when he said iguana for the letter I. Then, on Facebook, my daughter-in-law posted how our granddaughter in North Carolina was the focus of everyone’s attention as they went shopping. Having been through as a parent so many years ago, it is not about having forgotten, but watching as a grandparent, it is so much more meaningful, and after the past few weeks, realizing while understanding the circle of life, there is much more to do.

I walked out the door this morning to three deer grazing by the house. All in all, it was not a surprise as we have had deer around the house since we moved in nearly twenty years ago. Just recently, the pine trees, once so thick you could not see ten feet into them, were thinned and timbered. Now, you can see a hundred feet in the forest and open alleyways that allow for tree growth, which were cut along an entire section of land. On Sunday, as I went to watch the sunrise, I saw my first coyote in some time. I have heard them almost nightly but not seen one. So my fear of disturbing the wildlife from the timbering may be somewhat displaced.

Thinking back a few years to when we were informed our principal was being promoted and going to the county office. This was a significant advancement for him and a great loss for us. As I looked around my room this morning and wondered what it would be like to move again to another room, another school, and or even retire, I think many of us were going through this. As teachers in today’s crazy educational setting, we are wondering who will be going here or there, why, when, and with class size increases, whose jobs are safe and whose are not. As it seems so far this year, some schools may be gaining a position or two due to student increases, and some will lose teachers due to student populations going down.

I recall boxing up nearly nine years of photos and moving many gigs of data to a portable hard drive from computers around the room several years ago. I had to move my eland head. It had been situated on a wall among the former students’ photos. The eland is a head and shoulder mount and very big. I raised him from a two-year-old, and when he died, a good friend said he would be impressive mounted, and well, he looks impressive, the largest African antelope. He was six feet at the shoulder and 1400 pounds when he was alive. My numerous aquariums and my pets had to be moved as well. A few I scattered about the school, a few in my smaller room, and some came home.

The mornings have been strange, driving, chasing sunrises, lying in bed or a recliner at home, doing a bit of writing and yard work, and then napping, and each day realizing I need to change my way of living. As I was coming into our driveway late yesterday, a large hawk sailed over the house. At first, I thought it was a buzzard, but the movement was more hawk-like and as I pulled in, the hawk settled on a tree directly in front of me. A big red-tailed hawk just sitting about eighty feet from me, watching and gazing at me through my windshield. As I opened the door to the car, he flew off.

I often wonder about such coincidences in life. What if I had been thirty minutes sooner, no hawk, or ten minutes later, again no hawk. I was by chance in a window of time on the same wavelength at least for a moment as the hawk. Maybe it was because I was thinking about so many Native American ideas and teaching about the sacred in life. I was excited talking to several old friends who are teaching and/or working at the university level in that area. Maybe it was simply coincidence, the hawk sat and watched me. As I left the grocery store yesterday evening, the sunrise was okay, but it was nothing exciting. By chance, I forgot a piece of paper for my son. Coming out the second time, the sunset was intense synchronicity at its best.

As I wrote this morning, I did manage a few moments outside watching the clouds move around the little dipper. It was an interesting arrangement, literally six lines of clouds in a circle around the constellation—and quickly dissipated. A faint smile of the moon appeared again a few minutes later or earlier, and I would have missed it.

“You have noticed that everything as Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round….. The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours….Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.” Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Holy Man 1863-1950

I have used this quote many times borrowing from the wisdom of Black Elk including at my father’s funeral and my youngest son’s wedding. It has been many years since I described myself as a circle, alone, unopened, in a short poem I wrote one night sitting alone in my apartment in Pennsylvania. As I am sitting, listening to the running water from my room’s tanks and native flute music of Carlos Nakai, it is a peaceful feeling wandering through memories and thinking about where, when, and how. Which path should I choose to walk today, tomorrow, and the day after? What new trail should I take, or should I stay secure in the old?

“What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. Whatever happens to the beasts soon happens to man. All things are connected. You must teach the children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know, the earth does not belong to man, and man belongs to the earth.” Chief Seattle

I sat back and thought about my hawk yesterday and how we are all intertwined in this existence, each aspect of who we are and why we are here. I look forward to the journey today, as always, and one day, way off, when a destination does approach, it will be when it is. But for today, I am occupied with the journey. Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts and always give thanks. namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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