When eagles fly so must I

A few years ago, my son, Padme the wonder dog, and I ventured off to the San Juan Islands to commune with the eagles, the whales, and the sea. That was the first time I ever experienced bald eagles in a nest, although I've seen their nests before.

I have three photographs from that trip of a bald eagle lifting off a tree after a bicycle passed by, then flew directly at us, then up.

< This photograph of my favorite eagle patriarch is similar and much closer. When eagles lift off from a branch, they often look like they are pushing off with their wings.

I grouped the images from that San Juan trip together with a screened image of bald eagles, creating a poster with a rhyming title that fits what I feel when I spot an eagle or other raptor: When eagles fly, so must I.

I like to believe that I have experienced a past lifetime or two living as a type of animal, or perhaps a spirit protector for fauna or flora in nature. I hope that, if multiple lifetimes are truly what we – all beings – experience, that I will be able to return as an eagle.