Benediction

It is always a little sad when a visitor leaves. Especially when that visitor is your kid. (Especially since we are, finally, both grown up enough to enjoy each other.) My kid flew back to Chicago yesterday. A longer visit would have been better but, all in all, it was a good time. We shared good food and wine – time with other members of the family – cleaning up the yard -- putting up the tree -- seeing some movies -- playing some cards. Plus that amazing day when we saw elk and deer and magpies, a coyote and a big horn sheep.

So. I dropped him off at the airport and drove back, north up I25-- not the most spiritual of corridors – even on a brilliant sunny afternoon.

Just as I was about to exit, I noticed an unusually large bird soaring in the bright blue sky. It was heading south, just to the west of the highway. I could monitor its progress without endangering anyone.

‘Could that possibly be an eagle?’ I wondered. Most often, when I see something that might be an eagle, it turns out to be something a lot less glamorous – like a turkey buzzard.

Not this time. As it came closer, its astoundingly white head shone in the sunlight. It was not just an eagle, it was a bald eagle! Beautiful, rare and grand.

The eagle seemed both a benediction to Thanksgiving and my son’s visit and also, somehow, a promise that there will be other visits, other good times.

Hallelujah! And thanks