The Owl, My Mother, A Friend And Co-worker

I was at my mothers house for a week and a barn owl was sitting down at the corner of her street. It was in the country and not very unusual to see an owl in the country.

My son was ill and mom was steaming him each night in the bathroom by filling the bathtub with hot water and sitting with him in there for what seemed like an hour or more.

I had already been told that it worried her that the owl was at the corner every day and was so visible to all of us. We had all seen the owl.

My mother told the stories that I had heard growing up. Owls are seen as a symbol of death and a warning of an impending death. Hearing owls is an unlucky omen and they are in stories of the bogeyman, told in a warning to children to stay inside at night or the owl may take them. I had heard too that some people thought that owls shapeshifted and some tribes thought they may be the spirits of the unhappy dead that were still here.

I had experiences with co-workers and friends that would not ride with me if I had an owl figurine or stuffed owl in my car. One time I had to put it in the trunk before a friend would ride with me. So, I heard the stories and knew that American Indian people took the stories seriously, even if it was a stuffed owl or a picture of an owl.

I thought though that because I was an educated woman, I could let it go and not take it seriously or worry about the stories. Then my son told us that he saw a man at his window with big huge eyes that week when the owl was in the neighborhood. The room he was in was a second story window and my mom scared everyone, as she started to pray out loud, burn a smudge and then cry for my baby.

My little boy had been sickly since birth and we found out he was allergic to smoke and would get asthma like reactions to smoke. About a month after he was born, he quit breathing and the doctor thought he had sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and told me that he could die anytime between then and 2 ½ years. He was just barely two at this time. So, it was real easy for me to be afraid also. He was kept away from smoke since we found out about that allergy, but I still didn’t know if it was more than that as I was told smoking was possibly part of SIDS.

My boy got better, and the owl disappeared. I talked to people close to me and a traditional healer told me that yes, owls are messengers, but it doesn’t have to mean death. My son lived and he is in his forties now with a child of his own.

And then another friend said, it is just important to love the ones we are with, and she referenced a song that was playing around that time. She also gave me an owl as a reminder to love the ones I am with. Soon, I had an owl collection. Again, there were people uncomfortable visiting me because of the owls. Eventually I got rid of most of the collection. I still have a few special ones that will remind me yet to love the ones I am with.

Still years later I heard from a co-worker that he went to a medicine man after his mom died as he was seeing and hearing an owl just before she died and wanted it to stop, as it wasn't just for his mother. The medicine man told him that the spirits said to look at his skin color and to know that because he was Native American that they would not take it away from him. It is a message for him to know what is coming and to prepare for that.

Before my father-in-law died, I saw and heard the owl outside of their house a couple times. I thought of what my co-worker had to say and realized what that would mean and there were things that would be important for me to do. Sometimes I will let people know in the clinic that Native American people will not like having pictures of owls in the clinic or hospital.

Even though owls are popular on baby clothes and equipment, Native American people that grew up hearing the stories, will not like that and will not buy them and will not like them for gifts. Recently the clinic had owls hanging on a Christmas tree in a gift shop and I wondered how long it would be before they came down. It wasn’t long and the owl figurines were gone.

Always remember to love the ones you are with. We never know when our time is up or anyone else’s time is up.