WE'RE EAGLES!!!

My strength, I owe to my Mother...........

One of the ways my mother taught my brother and sisters and I, how to fight through life is through this story, she loved it. It became our anthem in life, what we hold on to, who we have all become. When I would need a pep talk to get through hard times, she would tell me this story!

A naturalist was visiting a farmer one day and was surprised to see a beautiful eagle in the farmer’s chicken coop. "Why in the world, asked the naturalist, have you got this eagle living in with the chickens?" "Well, answered the farmer, I found him when he was little and raised him in there with the chickens. He doesn’t know any better, he thinks he is a chicken." The naturalist was dumbfounded. The eagle was pecking the grain and drinking from the watering can. The eagle kept his eyes on the ground and strutted around in circles, looking every inch a big, over-sized chicken. "Doesn’t he ever try to spread his wings and fly out of there?" asked the naturalist. "No, said the farmer, and I doubt he ever will, he doesn’t know what it means to fly." "Well, said the naturalist, "let me take him out and do a few experiments with him." The farmer agrees, but assured the naturalist that he was wasting his time. The naturalist lifted the bird to the top of the chicken coop fence and said "Fly!" He pushed the reluctant bird off the fence and it fell to the ground in a pile of dusty feathers. Next, the undaunted researcher took the ruffled chicken/eagle to the farmer’s hay loft and spread it’s wings before tossing it high in the air with the command "FLY!" The frightened bird shrieked and fell ungraciously to the barn-yard where it resumed pecking the ground in search of it’s dinner. The naturalist again picked up the eagle and decided to give it one more chance in a more appropriate environment, away from the bad examples of chicken lifestyle. He set the docile bird on the front seat of his pickup truck next to him and headed for the highest butte in the country. After a lengthy and sweaty climb to the crest of the butte with the bird tucked under his arm, he spoke gently to the goldenbird. "Friend, he said, you were born to soar. It is better that you die here today on the rocks below than live the rest of your life being a chicken in a pen, gawked at and out of your element." Having said these final words, he lifted the eagle up and once more commanded it to "FLY!" He tossed it out in space and this time, much to his relief, it opened it’s seven-foot wingspan and flew gracefully into the sky. It slowly climbed in ever higher spirals, riding unseen thermals of hot air until it disappeared into the glare of the morning sun. The naturalist smiled and thought how happy he was with his days work. Like the eagle, he had for many years, let other people define his worth and direct his life for him. Like the eagle, it had taken a life and death situation for him to realize his self worth and real calling in life.

We all knew the story well, that finally, all she would have to say is YOUR AN EAGLE BY DAMN! We all have handed this story down to our children and I hope they all do the same for their children or should I say their Eagles!! I have been thinking alot about My Lexi lately, she is coming to a cross road in life, she will be graduating soon and is working hard to find a way to go to college. She is driven , I love and admire it! Lexi has concerns about leaving me and I know she worries about me, she is scared to leave me alone. We all have to become Eagles and soar, college will do that for her, it is her time! For me, it is time to spread my wings, a changing time for me too, we are not chickens, we do not put our heads is the sand, we are EAGLES! I will be fine, it will be a new chapter in life for the both of us! We have alot of liven to do!