Lucky Charms & Prodigal Geese

On Monday of this week, six days after the departure of our family of Canadas, I was walking through a large "super store" and something on an end cap display of jewelry caught my eye. I never pay attention to "faux Indian" jewelry, so I was surprised to find myself stopping to look at this display. The thing that caught me at the sub-conscious level was a necklace set of multiple strands of beads, turquoise, seeds and glass. The pendant was a disk of "mother of pearl" with what appeared to be a small bird fetish hanging over it. As I looked at it, it reminded me of the many paintings I've seen of a Canada Goose in flight across a full moon. There it was, all alone amongst other quasi Indian silver pieces, hanging on a cardboard display wrapper which said "Made in China" in the lower right hand corner. I shrugged the sensation off, and started to continue my journey to the electronics department, but I couldn't leave --- I searched through the rest of the display and there was no other piece that looked like this one ... I was absolutely drawn to it, because of the "synchronicity" of finding such a thing so recently after the loss of our family of geese. I had the wildly romantic thought that perhaps the Universe had sent me a sign (all the way from China) that my geese were ok and wanted me to know about them.

So, I bought the thing. The cashier stuffed it into a styrofoam bag, and I stuffed it into my purse and left, carrying more important purchases in my hand. So much for faux fetish pieces I thought to myself, and vowed not to let my daughter know how silly and romantic I'd been, even if it was just a $5.00 purchase.

Later that evening, waiting for the rest of our dinner party to join us in the car and head home, I put my hand into the purse and found the sack with the necklace in it. Bored, I took it out of the package and off the card ... I was surprised to find that it was a single necklace of three strands, and not interchangeable strands as I'd originally thought .... Interesting clasp too. Still alone in the car, I found myself fastening the necklace around my neck ... I checked out the "look" in the sun visor mirror, found it acceptable and then tucked in inside the neck of my t-top. My hand came to rest on the strands of beads and I could feel the little fetish against the moon disk. I had to smile, and found myself thanking the birds for sending me this little momento of the time we'd spent getting to know one another - I ask the Mother to look over them, keep them safe, and if it was what they would like, I wanted to see them one more time just to know they were "ok."

The next day, on Tuesday afternoon, I got an IM from my daughter at work ... The Geese are back!
They have a new one with them, but it is the same family. They're all here!

Never doubt the power of a faux Native American fetish, made in China and purchased in Walmart! More likely, the message is to attend to one's surroundings, because no matter how far we stray from the original plan, the future is ancient and will find ways to remind us who we are and how we are to find our way on the planet and in the Universe.

The addition of a new member in the goose family made me wonder if it could possibly be the same "adolescent" member of the family who had been chased away when the fledglings hatched. The question sent me on another research trek across the internet and I learned many new things about Canada Geese.

In addition to being monogamous, Canada Geese are very family oriented. As I learned earlier in the year, the baby geese stay with their parents for a full year, making the migratory flight with them in the fall and again in the spring. The family members do recognize one another, and so it is possible that when the parents begin to take their fledglings away on foraging expeditions, they will find and add the "older children" who have not yet found mates. Migration routes are passed on from generation to generation, with parents teaching their young how to find their way. Canadas are capable of flying thousands of miles at a time, but they often stop to allow younger or older birds to rest, and they often change leaders in their V-formations because that is the most strenuous position to fly ... Canadas fly by day, using remembered landmarks to find their way, and here is the most miraculous thing about them. They also travel at night, and they navigate by the stars! Can you imagine that? Flying at night, high above the earth, always together with family and kin, always flying toward Polaris, that ancient guiding star, always knowing to fly toward Basic North.

Sad News and Moving Forward

On Thursday last, one of our little family of geese was killed by a careless or impatient driver. At First we weren't sure which member was gone, and thought it was the Poppa Goose. They stayed away from people after the loss, and it looked as though the lone sentinel was the Momma Goose, keeping a lonely vigil without her mate. Then, in another two days, "she" had a companion, standing watch by her side while the four babies ate.

On Sunday, we were able to get close enough for a more detailed look, and the Father Goose is still there, along with what we believe to be the Momma. Apparently, one of the babies was killed. They've all grown up so much that we were not quite sure and so waited until we could be more positive in our reporting..

But today, two days after our first close up, the entire family is gone. I'm not sure if they've left for good, or if the parents have taken the remaining four off for a few days of "flight training" in preparation for their upcoming long journey. I've never seen them fly, but the babies appear to be well feathered out and there has been a great deal of wing stretching and flapping going on when they were on the move.

I felt such sadness over the death of one of the babies, and it was obvious that the remaining family was suffering some confusion and trying to regroup and reorganize as well. I know that these things happen in their natural wild environment, but I found that I was very angry over the idea that this was a death that probably could have been avoided. Just today there was a story in the newspaper that a driver further north in our state had deliberately driven through a flock of wild ducks in a city park, and killed several of them. That driver will be serving 60 days in jail; I think it is a fitting fine.

I don't know if we'll see "our" geese again - somehow I hope they've found a safer place to live. I'll miss our daily visits if they've departed for good, but will try to convince myself they've found a happier, safer place to be.