Remember Me

I heard him before I saw him. But Owls are always so quiet that I'm very sure he wanted me to look. As I looked up he landed on a branch 20 yards away. Bright white with black speckled feathers puffed up to survey my back yard. I love owls and I was exhilerated at the sight. I followed after him snapping phone pictures to capture the moment. Then I ran to see if the humane 'live' mouse trap I had set in my studio happened to have trapped a live mouse, a meal to feed my friend. Now, slowly, I brought the mouse out to the owl as a peace offering. With regal dignity the Owl saw my mouse as I tossed it toward him. He paused, then pounced, then standing on the ground with the mouse in his mouth, looked at me and swallowed.

Somehow, as I shared a meal with my friend, as the owl looked at me with those large piercing eyes, It occurred to me that I had already shared other meals with this friend. The meal was over and away he flew.

The Next Day I was running through the woods and I heard him before I saw him. My friend knew that I was in the middle of my long distance running meditation. He had to grab my attention but because his fight is so silent he needed to fly very close to my ear to snap me back into awareness of the real world of the woods and the animal habitat around me. Then my owl friend landed on a branch just 5 yards away in front of me.

"Hello Craig!"

"Hello (pause) did you like the mouse I gave you?... I don't have much to offer right now."

"No problem, I just want to thank you."

"You want to thank me? I'm probably even more grateful to you."

"Well I'm here to let you know that you are appreciated."

I felt slightly intimidated... I was in his home and I had been running and I had been meditating preoccupied with myself and my feet had been clomping down the trail until he appeared. I hoped to excuse myself from the intrusion of his home and after tiptoeing a few more steps further past his perch, I continued to run. Obviously the Owl was not finished and he made sure to grab my attention one last time. He flew past my ear to land in another tree 4 yards ahead of me. I stopped.

"Do you know why I am thanking you Craig?"

"Because you want bragging rights with the other owls? You want to be able to tell your friends and family that a human gives you fresh mice.

Or... because you noticed that I cried that one time when you fed your son who took the gift, took the food and wasted it? You always had so much more patience with your children than I have had.

Or... because as you watched your son when he gave me a big bear hug one day? On several occasions we thought about giving each other a hug but we both always realized that we could not allow ourselves to hug each other because you were my teacher for all those years and teachers never really hug their apprentices.

Or maybe because you know that the artistic creations that we have created together will continue to make this world a little more beautiful and powerful long after we have both moved on beyond this world. The feeling is mutual"

I thanked him again and continued running down the trail.