Sun Out, Eagle Soaring

Living gratefully today, I notice the better lighting of new bulbs replacing old ones. If only it were that simple to turn the tide of a pandemic and an overall unsettling time. 

I went for a run yesterday morning, "doing a Roger" and welcoming daylight. It was cloudy and breezy, and then at one point the sun came out and I noticed an eagle soaring overhead. An eagle, the proud symbol of our nation. And also a reminder of my sister Mary Jo. 

The day after she died, I was driving, grieving, feeling--and I noticed an eagle soaring in the blue sky ahead of me. It felt like Mary Jo was telling me "I'm free. Pain-free and soaring." The image, and the emotions accompanying it, bring comfort and acceptance. 

The bald eagle is described as having fierce beauty and proud independence. My country is floundering in ways, on the eve of Election Day and in the middle of a surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Will we and our national symbol make it through this?

The eagle survived trying times, their very existence endangered, and I see them regularly in our river town now. The eagle I saw with my own eyes is more real to me than the eagle as national symbol, but I maintain hope that we will collectively come through the trying months ahead.