Although I have seen fabulous swoops of single sandhill cranes, their unmistakable majesty skimming the river’s surface or ahead of me on the road, I have not yet come upon the massive lift of a flock at dawn. But the crows! The crows continue to find me, and so I take the chances that present themselves. Their steadfast song greets me every morning,and their cries soothe me at the end of each day. In today’s morning fog, I stood outside and listened to the unending conversations across the meadow. The sun shines now, and the crows have dispersed. I know they will return as sunset approaches. I will be here.
It’s the twenty-seventh day of the sixty-first month of My Year Without Complaining. Life continues.