FALLING FEATHERS

It was after dinner and my son Alex and I had just returned from a walk in our neighborhood. We each grabbed a bottle of water and headed to the back porch where my husband, Steven was sitting.

“You two have a nice walk?” he asked as I sat down in my rocking chair and Alex sat down on the glider.

“Great.” I said taking a sip of water. “Oh my gosh! There it is again!” I cried pointing to a small white feather gently floating down and landing on the deck in front of me. “Alex, I told you a spirit was trying to let us know they were thinking about us!”

Steven looked over at Alex who shrugged his shoulders before answering. “Mom's talking to dead people again.”

“I'm not taking to them. ” I reached down and picked up the tiny white feather. “It's just a nice way to be reminded that someone's who's passed is watching over me.” I placed the feather on the table next to me then looked over at Alex. “How many feather's did we see on our walk?”

Alex shook his head. “Three maybe four?” He looked over at Steven. “I told her I thought it might be molting season.” They both started to laugh but quickly stopped when they saw I wasn't joining in on their joke.

Steven cleared his throat. “I thought you said it's when you see a cardinal?”

“That too.” I nodded in agreement. “It's also dragonflies, ladybugs, butterflies even pennies.” I added.

“Well...” Steven shook his head. “I'm pretty sure you can't leave the house without seeing at least one of those things.” Steven looked skeptical.

“I disagree.” I took another sip of water. “Days can go by that I don't see a butterfly or a cardinal.” I looked over at Alex. “And I haven't seen a ladybug in months.”

Alex looked over at Steven then back at me. “But aren't you the one who pointed out that our front lawn always has dragonflies buzzing around on it?”

I waved my hand dismissively. “We're not talking about dragonflies right now.” I leaned over and picked up the tiny white feather and held it up. “We're talking about feathers right now.”

Just then several more feathers floated down from the trees. Steven and Alex both looked at me.

I watched as they landed in a small pile in the grass and had to cringe. “Okay maybe that's not a loved one trying to get my attention.” I said sadly.

Steven leaned forward and looked up in the trees. “Okay I'm glad you realize that.” He sounded relieved. “Because I'm pretty sure those are from whatever the Cooper Hawk just snagged for his dinner.”

“Well, that was disgusting.” I said as I grabbed my water bottle and headed for the kitchen door. “Maybe you should check the front lawn for dragonflies.” Steven suggested.