What It Means to Fly Silently

In July, I was almost hit by lightning driving to a board retreat in Michigan.?

In August, I was t-boned by a car while I was innocently returning to my hotel in Pennsylvania.

Now that it’s September??

Driving home from the airport in the middle of the night this week, I hit an owl.

An owl!

He glided from a low perch somewhere in the dark to a spot in front of my car. For a brief moment, I saw brown bars and mottled coloring on his wings and chest as my headlights lit him up.?

And there was a thump.

It was 12:45 in the morning, and I was on my way home from a work trip to Chicago. I was going super slow on our back road because we often see deer in the road that time of night. But I was looking for four-leggeds, not for a barred owl coming from the sky.

There was nothing I could do.?

It was pitch black; I did not know what happened to him. I knew Fish and Game would not answer my call if I rang. I wasn’t sure if he even lived. But I knew hitting an owl with a car was not a good thing. How could anything survive that?

I shared about the tragic meeting with a friend the next day. And she said when something like that happens to her, she asks, “What do you have to teach me, Owl, that is so significant that you had to give your life for it?”

What a beautiful question. For a beautiful, unassuming bird.?

I remember seeing a barred owl once at a farmer’s market in Florida. The bird handler was educating everyone about its call, tell-tale markings, and its harmless and sweet temperament. I remember being bothered by the small chain circling his foot. But the handler said that they had rescued the owl, he could not fly, and without their care he would not survive.

They say owls are the birds of prophecy and wisdom. If an owl appears in your life, we should be thankful for its willingness to show itself. Owls can help us through the dark, through fear and uncertainty. They can help us find the other side, where light lives.

Thank goodness: I don’t like night, especially the one we are in right now. I don’t like darkness.?

To Owl, night is to be embraced. Night can bring us courage, and teach us to follow our instincts.?

They say if an owl shows up in your life, it is time to explore your shadow self. To dive into secrets that you and others carry. It’s time to shed light on those shadows, to move into deeper spiritual work.?

The day after I hit the owl, my boyfriend showed me how to review the dashcam footage in my car. We watched the different cameras’ recordings as they showed the owl swooping in from the right. He seemed to be diving for prey in the road as I ran into him. And as we looked at the right and rear footage, we could see a flash of the owl after the hit.

We watched the few seconds again and again, in slow motion, stopping and starting, from the front and the rear, until my boyfriend said, “Look! Look at him taking off!”

In the faint darkness through one of the rear cameras, for an instant, we could see a bright spot with wings. They flapped for a moment a foot off the ground, and then took off for the sky.

Owl! You lived!

There is great peace in knowing this.

Ted Andrews says Owl represents the feminine, the moon, and the night.?

Here's what I say to you, my friend the Owl: Thank you. It was an honor to meet you under the moon on that night. I’m sorry our meeting was so abrupt, Owl, and that I caused you pain.?

But we saw your wings! And with you by my side, I am less afraid of night.

I hear your call.?

I am sitting quietly.

And I am listening.

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Kellie Wardman, CPCC, ACC, is an executive/leadership coach and senior consultant with DBD Group, a team of dedicated professionals joined together to help non-profits realize your goals and unique vision. Kellie focuses on strategic planning, board development and governance, and individual and team coaching.?https://www.dbd.group/