Back from mine and Miley’s walk this morning, and a pretty chilly one. I’ve been walking this trail for years, and it’s funny about the trail. You see the same people, who are there daily, and you become friends with them. Most I don’t even know their names, yet know things about their lives, or their families, and if they’re dog owners, most certainly we share about the goings-on of their dogs. I might know the dogs names, and not the owner’s names, reminding me of the days at the ball fields when the boys were small, and I was “Troy’s, Kyle’s or Dylan’s Mom” rather than “Melissa”.

I’ve seen lots of nature and wildlife on the trail. Bunnies, squirrels, herons, hawks, turtles, deer, beaver, raccoon, geese. Even a decoy alligator! It’s an all-out menagerie over there.

Today, walking along, freezing (where is spring?) I saw something that had my mouth drop open. Walking down the trail, I saw off in the distance, a bird flying toward me. Miley stopped, she saw it too. Big enough to be a heron, or a goose, the sun was shining on it just right, that I couldn’t be sure. It had a decent wing span, and flying so smoothly. It got closer, and I thought…could it be? Right over me, and it couldn’t be denied. A bald eagle! Determined and flying, holding a fish in its talons. I was amazed! I had never seen a bald eagle on the trail before, and too mesmerized I didn’t have time to grab my camera. As it flew over me when I thought to grab it, I then decided, ah, that’s ok. This is a moment for me. I’ll remember it, I don’t need a picture of it. And as quickly as it approached, it kept on flying, paying no attention to me, of course.

To be honest, I must’ve looked pretty silly standing there with my mouth hanging open. I had never seen a bald eagle on the trail before. I must’ve looked pretty sillier, too, when I said to Miley, hey…did you see that? Pretty awesome, right? Her tail wagged, and she started pulling to leave. A fleeting moment for sure. I had experienced it with the dog, and that was nice, it would have been nicer to have experienced it with another person, though.

About a mile down the trail I was passing a fellow “regular”, and, as we do, he mentioned how biting the wind was, and could we believe that we were bundled up in hats, gloves, and winter coats in April? Ya, I said, spring’s coming, they say. And, as I started to say see ya, and head out on my day, he said “Hey, have you seen the bald eagle that’s been flying around?”

BOOM.

Of course then I started gushing about my encounter, and how awed I had been by it. He shared how he had seen it yesterday, and it had been the same kind of experience for him. Just, AWESOME. He got what I was throwing down. He understood. He had experienced the same thing.

I thanked him for mentioning it, that he made my day by asking about it. And it was cool that we both were so impressed by it, and it was great knowing that there was someone out there, like me, that “gets it”.

That got me to thinking, of course, as I headed back down the trail, that there are lots of people along our path that get it. Let it be the walking trail, or the path of life, there are others like you that have been where you are, have experienced the things you’ve experienced, you’re not the only one.

It’s a siting of a bald eagle while walking. Or being a mom. Or a single mom. Or someone that’s lost some weight, gained it all back, and lost it again. Being a mom with a kid with special needs. A working mom. A stay at home mom. A business owner. A failed business owner. Someone who has remarried. Someone battling illness, or depression, job loss. Etc, etc…

The point is? You’re not alone. There’s someone out there that get’s you. Gets where you’ve been. Gets where you are. And gets where you want to go.