Fun For Me ... Music For You

Today I found myself needing out of the house.
So I went for a drive.
I drove fast on a curving road ... which felt very good.
Then I found myself down at the Locke and Dam #21.

This is one of my favorite hang outs.
I eagle watch down there.
December through Spring the eagles congregate there until the river thaws in the spring.
I spend hours a day watching them fly,
watching them fish,
watching them sitting in the tree tops.

I pulled into the parking lot not expecting to see any eagles today.
It isn't the right time of year for that.
I was just going to watch and listen to the river.

I did, however, see a boat and some barges in the Locke.
I'd never watched one go through before, so I walked up to the observation deck to see how it was done.
It took a while.
There were twelve barges full of coal.
The boat pushing them was huge!
I see them all the time from a distance and had no idea they were that big.

One of the workers waved at me.
It was too noisy to talk, so we just exchanged waves and smiles.

Then I noticed something.
There were two eagles soaring off in the distance.

Then I saw two more.

Then two more.

I couldn't believe it!
What were they doing there?

Then I saw two more in the very far distance.

I, as always, stood there mesmorized and watched them for a long time.
I always have my binoculars in the car with in reach just for moments like this.
I watched them for about half an hour.
They were so beautiful.
So graceful.
It brought peace to my heart to watch them.

I also saw a stream of Monarch Butterflies going through.
I hadn't realized that they fly so high. They were up over the tree tops.
The only reason I saw them so well was because I was up on the observation deck which is high up.

With my cowboy heritage, I was taught by my Grandfather and my father to always see the beauty in everything around me. Especially nature.
To always notice the little things ... a blade of grass ... a rock ... a pebble ... flowers ... animals and wildlife ... frogs ... tadpoles ... birds ... a piece of wood ... the ground ... you can discover a lot of things by looking at the ground.
I used to be able to track ... but it's been too long.

Having a Native American background on my mother's side has instilled a love and strong need and appreciation of nature. I've always had it.
I've been taught that nature speaks to your heart and your soul.
That God can speak to you through nature if you just listen.

That's what happened to me today.
I don't know if this is actually something that I should be sharing on my blog or not since it is so personal, but I'm going to anyway.

My Indian Spirit Guide is the soaring bird.

This gives me chills just to think about it and here I am crying again ... but they're happy tears.
Appreciative tears.

As I was leaving the Locke and Dam today ... the eagles had all landed over across the river in the trees. Some had gone on their separate ways up or down the river.
I thought they were gone.

I came down off the observation deck and I've walked half way to the car ...
which was a little bit away ...
when I see a shadow on the ground.

I looked up and there was an eagle soaring over me.
It was below the tree tops.
It looked me right in the eye.

I looked up at him and spread my arms so that I could soar with him.
And here comes another one.
And another one.
And another one.
They all soared together and stayed right over me.
In the end there were five of them.
They stayed over me like that for about five minutes.
Me standing on the ground with my arms out and crying.
Them circling me from above from tree top level.

And I was listening.
God told me that he loves me.
That I have the strength of an eagle.
That I can keep going and I am going to be just fine.
That when I'm tired and dragging ... don't push ... just spread my arms and soar.
Let Him be my strength.

Today I got a hug from the eagles.
That has never happened to me before.
It was very special.
I'll never forget it.