...grace and mess...

Geese fly into our lives at every season. Every new journey, every migration; so it seems. Or, maybe we just notice them at those times. It's been so consistent, for so many years now, that this last visit got us thinking about what it means. When these geese landed on Hess Lake last week, we did a little research on the symbolism of the goose.

They've always been more important to Kathy than to me. I'm drawn to the wolf. So, in deference to the many "animal totem" sites on the net, I'll just focus on what I see in geese and in this woman whom I know, love, am discovering, and falling in love with. Geese are simultaneously full of grace and mess. Geese, I've learned, mate for life and the flock never leaves a fallen comrade completely alone. At least one other goose (a mate or another) will stay behind even if the larger flock needs to move on. They swim and fly with beauty and grace, but you want to watch your step when you tread where they've been walking. Ancient stories (think Brothers Grimm and before) and contemporary bird watchers equate geese with family, mothering, nurturing, leading, following, supernatural sense of direction, guidance, returning to safe places, quest, journey, loyalty, devotion, and protection. Casual observation reveals a balance of peace, fluid motion, solitude without isolation, raucous noise, clumsy take-offs, and to-the-death protection of little ones. I'm really not sure if Kathy's totem animal is the goose and what all that means. But, my life is bathed in grace and colored by mess that I would avoid (both ignorantly and intentionally) had she not flown into my life 38 years ago. And, we're both such goslings still. Amazing! Off we go.