Member-only story
How I Tested the “Birds as Spiritual Messengers” Theory and Found My Way Back to Writing
The true story behind my profile picture.
About a year ago, while practising being present on my evening walks, I started noticing the different birds around me and decided to invest in some feeders so I could enjoy them in my yard as well
I quickly drew house finches, chickadees, nuthatches, and tufted titmice to my backyard bird café. Woodpeckers loved the suet; blue jays, the peanuts; and bluebirds, the mealworms. I’d find myself mesmerized as they’d flit, flutter, and chatter.
A pair of cardinals, the muted tones of the female overshadowed by the bright red of her partner, came to visit each day. Many folks think cardinals are messengers for departed loved ones. Hummingbirds, too.
I didn’t have any such connections with departed loved ones, though, and wondered if I could put the “birds as spiritual messengers” theory to the test. I had the perfect subject, too.
But before I get into the test, let me tell you about Miss Duffy.
That Teacher Who Made a Difference
In 8th grade English, my desk sitting next to Miss Duffy’s, I faced the cramped class each day as if already the teacher I one day hoped to be.
Maureen Duffy epitomized the spinster schoolmarm: a slim, dark-haired, middle-aged woman with a hawkish face and cackling laugh. It was the late 1970s, and in my conservative rural hometown, her never-married status put Miss Duffy at the center of jokes and rumors about her lifestyle and assumed preferences.
I was 13 years old, though, and mostly oblivious to the rumors. All I cared about was that Miss Duffy loaded me up with stickers for my good grades, gave me the best parts when we read books out loud in class, and let me parody Shakespeare for my classmates (“TB or not TB, that is the congestion. Consumption be done about it? Of cough. Of cough.”).
Once in high school and no longer her student (I attended a K-12 school, so I…
