Noticing A Bird

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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I saw a beautiful bird when I was running.

I am not sure what kind of bird she was. She was posed regally and openly on a wood post a few feet from the small sea wall. Her feet gripped the post. A sign that read “DANGER” hung on the side of the post. She did not care. She had swagger. Birds have backbones and the gray feathers on the top of her head touched the base of her backbone. Her body made a perfect circle with each breath, moving back and forth as if she was daring the sun or the waves or the rocks below to challenge her. Her wings were fully extended and faced heaven carrying her hopes to the sky. She did not care if people stopped and looked at her. She did not care if a boat drove by. She did not care if a jet flew overhead. She was at once vulnerable and strong, beautiful and peaceful, proud and lyrical.

The Value of Stopping

I generally don’t stop long enough to really appreciate moments while I am running. I get caught up in random thoughts, in music playing through my headphones, in trying to get done running, in thinking through situations, or in trying not to think about parts of my body that hurt. Seeing this bird reminded me to slow down and be grateful. There was something celebratory to her actions. There was something soothing in her song. There was something freeing in her ability to revel in the wind. She defined being both in and of – a concept I struggled with in graduate school that still perplexes me today.

Joy in the Moment

I stood there long enough to think about the moment. To really see the bird. When I started to run again, I could not stop smiling. I was filled with gratitude for being able to run and breathe and see. I thought about the dolphins, stingrays, manatees and rainbows I have seen on that path. I thought about the sculpture that graces the turn that looks different in the sun’s changing light. I thought about the familiar smiles of the dogs on the path.

Not Just Filling in the Day

In noticing the bird I am not just filling in the day. She understands presence and joy. She knows hope and confidence. She imagines flight beyond where she has flown before. She is standing on the wood post on her way to becoming. That is why I run. To hope. To breathe. To imagine. To learn.