Oh goodness.
Today has been a mixed bag kind of day. I woke up slammed by pressing matters I must deal with over the next few days, anxiety pressing in on me and fear seeking to overwhelm me. I had a rough start to the day. But, as often happens, I prayed, cried, pulled myself together and got on with the day. I even practiced laughing and smiling, including during a very abbreviated walk at the park. In retrospect I hope no one was watching me as all that smiling and the occasional chuckling out loud might have made me look a bit crazy. Still, it was good practice. I think I will keep practicing the laughing thing; it’s definitely something I want to get better at. Also true to my new intentions I played my guitar and sang for about 30-45 minutes. That too was a good use of time this evening. I’m sure I released all kinds of good-mood chemicals. So that’s all good.
I am grateful for God’s sense of humor–either she has one or I’ve ascribed one to her. In any event, if there is a god, I’m certain that he/she has a sense of humor. And so when I ask for a sign, she sends the turkeys.As part of my ongoing love affair with the local wild turkeys I’ve really tuned into the various sounds they make. The other day they were strolling around the parking lot in the condo complex we live in and pecking around in the pine needles and such right next to my car. Of course I took pictures and a video of this–I have more pictures of these turkeys on my phone than I do of my children or other humans. Today they were putting up a whole lot of noise, so I went downstairs and outside to look. There were no turkeys to be seen. I looked around the parking lot and even peered down into a deep ravine standing next to a tall pine searching for the source of the noise. That’s when I heard a rustle and something dropped down onto me from above. I looked up and saw six turkeys perched up in the trees. One just missed dropping a bomb right on top of me–fortunately what hit me from above was a small twig and not what I had originally feared.
Spot the Turkeys in the Pine Tree
It’s okay if you think I’m nuts, but I’ve come to love these fool turkeys. They provide me with oft-needed comic relief as well as reconnect me to my love of the natural world, of birds and animals, trees and plants. I can forget my troubles for a few minutes by watching these birds. They turn up in various places just when I’ve begun taking everything a bit too seriously. Besides what I consider their generally comic demeanor, these birds are beautiful–in terms of their markings and feathers, and they’re big. It’s quite impressive seeing six of the critters hanging out in the trees above me. I am grateful for their semi-regular appearances. I reckon I’ll do a little reading on the totem of the turkey and what turkeys represent. Perhaps I’ll learn some secrets from the turkey that will assist me as I move forward into 2012. In the meantime I’m grateful for their beauty and their antics.
These are simple pleasures, simple gratitudes for the second day of the new year. They’re not grand, but they’re all I can manage for now. I am looking forward to bigger and better things, but in the meantime, it’s me and the turkeys, which makes me very happy (and I smile!)
© M. T. Chamblee, 2012
