Three women at the top of Mt Tabor were peering intently into some tree, really high up, with binoculars this morning, and I stopped my run for a sec to ask them what they were looking at. “A great horned owl and its babies!” one of them answered, and gave me her binoculars and told me in that excellent birding way how to find it (this doug-fir in front of us? Go to the second doug-fir on the left of it, with the sap on the bottom right, all the way up until the limbs start crossing, then look back to where the branches intersect the trunk, etc etc). And holy shit, there was a massive great horned owl, and two goofy-looking floofy babies, just hanging out.
Other than the fact that holy shit it was three great horned owls, two of which were floofy babies (!!), two things about this delighted me. One, I am frequently the person handing others my binoculars when they ask me what I’m looking at, and it is so lovely to be the recipient of that. It has definitely redoubled my conviction that binoculars are to be shared with anyone around who’s interested.
Two, I loved so much how a crowd started to gather to look up at the owls, how fricken excited people were. I love that folks get psyched about things around them. I love the sweet feeling of excitement shared and spread, the creeping wonderment of seeing something that feels magical with other people who have also witnessed it. Swear to god, I almost started crying it was just such a heart-swelling I-love-the-world-and-humanity moment.
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(also, aside from all the flowers, the world has been full of just lovely lovely rainbows:) And of course the downpours that precede them, heh)
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I have been having many of these moments lately. Maybe it’s spring making everyone happier; maybe it’s me being happier so projecting that around me; maybe it’s just that folks are ready to notice and be in community again after a winter of hunkering. But oh, how my heart has been full. Every time someone in their car stops to let me cross a street on my bike, every time someone smiles back at me, every time I catch someone looking at a flower or taking a picture of the petals floating down in the breeze — my heart just wants to explode, like what a wondrous place we live, what flowing of love, look at how sweetly we can all share this world together.
This is never to say, of course, that there aren’t jerks, or horrible world things, or big problems. Just to say that yes, AND, look at what generosity of spirit we are capable of when we remember that we’re in this space with other people and other beings. Look how it feels when all of us in our best moments remember that community touches all of us, that we all do better when we look out for each other.
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(also, holy shmoly the flowers these days:)
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I hope that you all find some happiness and sweet community in your days, and maybe give yourself some time to indulge a sweet, goofy pleasure or a random whiff of a spring flower <3