I’ve been wracking my brain and trying to come up with something interesting to blog about, something spiritual but maybe not so heavy. I want to be meaningful but entertaining, too.
Finally, I realized that sometimes keeping it simple, is best. Here goes…
Last year, I noticed that every morning as the sun rose, flocks of gulls would fly into my little corner of the world to play in the air thermals. I could watch this spectacle right from my living room. Cool eh? I didn’t realize they were doing this until the fall because even though I’m an early riser, getting out of bed at some ungodly hour to watch the sun rise in the summer months just isn’t going to happen.
So, at 7am’ish every morning, I’m there, waiting for the show to start.
But, let me backtrack, just a little. I love seagulls and all other sorts of gulls. I think they’re beautiful, from their downy creamy white feathered chest to their adorable webbed little, awkward feet. I love the way they sound, crying out into the sky like a miffed SkyGod, demanding offerings of leftover restaurant dumpster food (the very finest pickings only) - and make it snappy!
I love how they soar, rising higher and higher, as if the very wind was captive to their requests.
My very first gift from my very first boyfriend (I was 15) was a little amber coloured gull brooch. I adored it. I think it was plastic, but it was sleek and curvy, a seagull in flight. I imagined it flying all alone over a sea that went on forever.
So, there I am, sitting with one of my cats in my lap, cuddled up on the couch with the fireplace warming us up. Just us, taking in all of those gulls coming from all directions, swooping in to hang out with the wind. Some get so close, if I didn’t have windows, I’d be able to touch them as they sailed by in the bat of an eyelash. We’re in a Highrise on the 4th floor. Just in case you were wondering.
It’s tranquil. It forces my mind to be still and for me to be present. It’s peaceful. Somehow all of my daily cares seem insignificant and I wish I was up there with them. I’m reminded that the sea isn’t very far away. This makes me smile.
I see crows and doves (yes, I know they’re really pigeons, but they are also rock doves) mingling in the air and for a minute, I remember we are all connected. It’s a super-highway in the sky and this is rush hour. Yet, everyone gets along and minds their own business. At least, the gulls, the crows and the pigeons, do.
It’s freedom, up there in the morning air. It’s grace and endless possibilities as the day gets started. We have all that, here on the ground, too. We just tend to forget about it. We get caught up in what we perceive as our daily troubles, our worries, issues and fears.
We could stand to learn a thing or two from birds. We could embrace our freedom, live in the moment to our full potential and soar. In whatever we do, we could rise up and do our best. Be, our best version of ourselves, all the time.
Just like those gulls, in the early morning light, riding the wind up to the sun.
