You Know You Love When It Hurts

A few months ago I was riding my bike just after dawn and I saw a bird in the road that had recently been hit. Right before I got to it, another bird swooped down and was pulling at its wing like it was trying to move it off the road. The other bird was lifeless and couldn't help, but the living bird was determined and got it to the curb. I was amazed at what I saw...but kept riding.

Wednesday I was driving on one of my favorite roads around Lake Travis when ahead of me I saw a crumbled little mass of feathers lying in the road. Beside it was a frantic bird, pulling, tugging, jumping, trying frantically to get the other bird to get up, move....to do something. This time it broke my heart.

I thought the first time I saw a bird do this it was a fluke. But seeing it the second time knotted my throat, clouded my eyes and quite honestly, took my breath away. I had to make a conscious effort to pull it together before I arrived at my destination. It made me realize that "even the birds do it". Whether its instinct, commitment or love, they care enough about another to not want to let it go.

The vision of the birds still haunts me, but I hope what it made me contemplate never leaves me. Being a companion - or loving - someone or something can be painful. But that's the catch, isn't it, because then you know you have truly loved.

Happy 22nd Anniversary, Steve.
xo


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wow! What A Ride!

Image
Today - 25 years Ago. Kona Oct. 2013 May 13, 1989. Yup. The day we were married. River Place Country Club. Only a club and golf course back then. No houses. One road. I think that was one of the last big rainstorms we had, too - aside from last night! Well, actually, one of the last most memorable storms. My dad forgot his bow tie-thingy (not really a bow tie, but a western version of that). He left the country club about an hour prior to the start of the wedding and 30 minutes after the wedding was supposed to start hadn't shown back up. The creeks were rising, the canyons flooding, and large softball size hail was falling from the sky. Dad was late - but not too late to have put one of the super-sized hail balls in the freezer for proof as to why a room full of people were anxiously awaiting his arrival. It was a "turd floater" as we call that kind of storm here in Texas. But right when we decided to go ahead and start the wedding (because everyone was running la
Read more

Living Out Our Choices

Image
My parents are now in their mid-80's. It is so odd for me to think of my parents nearing the last chapters of their lives. To me, my timeless memories of my dad will always be racing me on horseback up canyon walls that had my stirrups dragging the ground and my face buried in my horses main we were at such a steep angle; him pushing me down so I'd have to get back up to win a sprint across the yard with him; building a backstop so he could teach us how to connect with a baseball; and always telling me "If you're not falling, you're not learning." My lifelong mom memories are of her nurturing us and our friends - weekend after weekend, feeding us almost every other hour when we'd come in off the lake "starving"; always making sure the fridge was stocked to host the revolving door of lake friends that would come over; and then when my kids were born, having never-ending energy to be the first one up and over at the house checking in on what th
Read more

A Year of Living Present

Image
 Be Present With Me God does have a sense of humor I'm convinced. There have been many times in my life I lift my chin to the sky and give Him a little wink. "HaHa. You knew what you were doing." He's wise like that, and me, sometimes not so sharp. Like my last name. Present. For years I joked, "...and accounted for." But then mindfulness became a thing and I almost had to say, "uh oh". What excuse do I have? Present. I'm going to stay away from the "being mindful" aspect. Let's keep this simple. A 12-month focus with a personal practice of being in the moment, engaged, committed, connected, immersed. There are many words that describe "it", but doing "it" can be another story.  I find it's purely a habit. We all know there are a gazillion distractions in our day and age: technology, multi-tasking, a fast-paced life, not enough hours in the day - another list that goes on and on. But the habits we navigate
Read more