The Flight of the Barn Owl

Looking out, she was used to seeing the same old things: the scenery, the landscape and everything that inhabits it, interacting and behaving in the same ways that they always have. The winds blowing and their response always remaining the same. Breathtaking in a way that is devoid of all surprise; it seemed like nothing could shock her anymore, because every time she checked, each thing went unchanged.

Something felt different today though, something was on the wind that she just hadn't detected before. The air had a quality about it that was intangibly other. She had been waiting for this day. She had feared it might never arrive. The notion of difference made her feel alert and alive in a way she hadn't felt in years. It was a welcome disruption in the way her existence had been going, even though it scared her a bit. It was just frightening enough that she knew it meant that she was living, and that's exactly what she'd been looking for all this time.

She wasn't quite sure what exactly it was that set into motion the events that led up to this shift, this realization, or whether it was one or many incidents and circumstances, but regardless, here she was, at this crossroads. And she was thankful.

Out the window, across the clearing, by the edge of the woods that lies just beyond the field, she detected movement. She peered closer for a moment and realized that what she saw was a barn owl. This must have been what she felt on the breeze. That was the last sign she needed.

She felt like she was finally ready to step into the life she had always known that she was born to live: No holding back anymore, no excuses, no matter how tough it seemed, this would be it. This would be the moment, when she looked back, that she recognized as the pivotal point in time. There was a tangible shift in the winds, as everything began to move in the right direction. She could feel the tides turn to push her in the direction of her future rather than repeatedly pulling her back, keeping her mind stuck on the shores of her past with the waves of her memories lapping at her mind as it struggles there to hold on, cling on to something, even though deep down she knows she wants to let go and get pulled out, away from all that she's known up until this point in her life and become engulfed by the vast ocean that holds all the possibilities of where her life could go from here. All these long years, she could feel the malicious forces in her mind and all around her holding her in her past, leaving her paralyzed and unable to move forward through the current, instead of fighting with all she has for the future she knows she's earned and deserves.

She had a dream once that went much like this, and in it, she saw that barn owl, up on the side of the sea cliff, watching, studying, learning, waiting until it had collected enough information, until it was the right time to act. And just when it knew that it was, it wasted no time at all, the owl sprang into action and did what she had only dreamt of doing for the entirety of her life up until this point: It took the leap.

The owl knew it could fly. The owl didn’t sit there for what would feel like an eternity, wondering about what it would feel like to fly or what might happen if it tried to push off and flap its wings. The owl didn’t sit poised on the edge of the unknown and imagine jumping into it time and again until the thought pattern was just as familiar as an oft traveled road from one’s youth. The owl took action as soon as it could, wasting no time, for the owl knows that time is a precious gift which cannot be squandered on such harmful activities as worrying and being stuck in one’s head.

Knowing all this, and having spent quite a bit of time pondering it all, she has always admired the barn owl. She respects the way it does its research and ensures that it’s prepared before it dives into something, while also taking care to not let its gathered knowledge and potential go to waste. She has always wanted to emulate these qualities of the majestic bird and today is the day she has long awaited. She has taken the time to study the scene and learn all that she can so that she knows exactly what she is getting herself into and she isn’t going to waste another minute. Today, she finally feels ready to fly.