40 Comments
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Laura Sturza's avatar

Magnificent. The threads of this story are so beautifully woven together -- the bird, our freedoms, the search for solutions and meaning, finding respite. Lovely. Thank you.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you!

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Toni Brayer's avatar

Thank you for allowing me to wake up to this beautiful and meaning essay. So much to ponder in that bird and the messages it evokes in you and in me. Much gratitude.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you!

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Blake Spalding's avatar

Oh I love this, beautiful sister Lavinia, it really moved me. I will be curious to know if you see your ladybird around the yard, more peaceful now that you helped her to see beyond her illusion.

xoxo,

Blake

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you, honey!

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Lisa Boice's avatar

What a gorgeous piece! I will always love a story about how birds bring meaning to life. They are little messengers to help us in life. Thank you for capturing that so beautifully.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you so much, Lisa!

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Kimberley Lovato's avatar

What a salve for the bad news that shells us day in and day out, and a reminder to find a reprieve in the beauty of small victories, and birds.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you, KL. I love the word salve!

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sallie reynolds's avatar

Lovely. At the moment, the very moment, one of many to come, when we really need it. We are that poor bird, and we are the observer. I can only hope we are on a cycle, and that when this turn of the wheel ends, there will be some beauty in the world left to us.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you!

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Kristin Amico's avatar

Like the others said, what a gift to wake up to. Today I will bang my head slightly less and seek solutions no matter how temporary.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you, Kristin!

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Sheila Anderson's avatar

I have been there, both in terms of banging my head and frantically trying to discourage the persistent little bird from banging her head in cadence with my own. The news draws me in. I pull away and then, like a fierce magnet, I’m back again. I am helpless, can’t stop, can’t actually believe what I’m reading, watching. The definition of insanity. I recite the serenity prayer over and over. Maybe it will help.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Well said! We are living in very disturbing times.

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Marnie Summerfield Smith's avatar

So poignant, thank you for sharing. I hope the little bird keeps safe.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you! She and I are working it out.

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Alenka's avatar

Beautiful essay, Lavinia. A pair of cardinals come to drink from a water bowl under a torote tree every morning here in Baja. They are never far apart. Perhaps your buff-brown cardinal is looking for her departed red mate behind the glass window, because she can't accept he's gone.

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Leslie Parker's avatar

Yes. Too. Every. Word. You. Wrote.

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Sarah A. Rae's avatar

I love this, Lavinia!! So heartening to read in these tension-filled days!!❤️❤️

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Katie Bausler's avatar

My inner voice has taken to screaming. But I feel better after reading this essay.

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Blane Bachelor's avatar

Good god, what a stunning, spectacular piece of writing. I resonated with every word. Well done, my friend.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Oh, Blane, this means so much to me. Thank you!

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Anne Sigmon's avatar

Such a beautiful piece that resonates with what we are going through right now.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you so much, dear Anne!

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Ashley M. Schneider's avatar

A beautiful piece on our ties to nature and each other.

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Lavinia Spalding's avatar

Thank you!

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