Flight (words)

Have you ever noticed that there is a point right before a bird takes off in flight where they pause, glancing upward, then bend and push off on their pointy bird-feet to get the leverage to fly? Watching that quiet moment outside my window gave me the kind of deep recognition you only get from seeing someone do something you've actually done before.

We all try to gauge how well something will go before we jump into it for the first time, but flight seems so intrinsic to being a bird, I assumed they could do it with their eyes closed.

Now that I have the time to think and notice these kinds of things I've been amazed by the sheer effort it takes to accomplish most of the tasks we take for granted — mental and physical. That is, until we can no longer do them easily. I've been resolving to take with me into my everyday life the kind of mindful-appreciation it takes to wonder at the magnitude of each moment without dwelling so that I can actually live in the moment. Just as difficult to do as it was to say.

Do I wish I had a picture of the bird crouched just before take-off? Perhaps. Do I wish I had photographs to stand as place markers for the millions of poetic moments my prose-speaking-mind fails to capture metrically? Sure.

But all of these moments live somewhere in my mind waiting to be recalled and used as fodder for a future creative endeavor. And sometimes it's nice to write without pictures in order to remind you all where I started. Sometimes its nice to diversify my creative energy even if just for a moment before I plunge back into the world of shutter speed and light.