TKMJ Productions

Dance of the Eagle

As a child growing up it the vastness of the Montana Mountains, I learned to understand and appreciate the ways of nature. I learned of the flower whose soft petals fall to earth to color the grass that grows beneath it. I enjoyed the hunt of the deer, learning to take only what is needed leaving the rest of the heard to flourish until next season. I found that the falling of snow did make a soft sound when it dances upon mother earth in its flight from the sky. I played at the river watching the whirlpools pull leaves into the center of its vortex pulling it down only to release it at its bottom and pushing it to the edge to repeat its cycle. I learned that life was never ending cycle filled with wonder and knowledge far beyond the comprehension of man. I watched the hawk and eagle soar into the air only to disappear into the sun never to be seen again that day. I discovered the softness of the night where the creatures of mother earth move softly upon her cool surface. Many things I have learned as a child but I still wonder why the eagle flies into the sun.

Years later as a young man, I discovered a vast world beyond my mountains of Montana. I set out to explore that world with nothing except for a heart filled with wonder and excitement as I ventured out beyond my mountains, my valleys, my rivers and streams, my home. Life on the outside of the security of home was harsh. There was danger at every turn. I felt unwelcome until I found a small area I could call my new home. Faces were friendly and I was accepted for who I was. It was a small strip of mother earth where men soared into the air. Fascinated by the idea that I could learn to fly, I set my sights on the task at hand washing and polishing aircraft for almost nothing. The work was hard in the hot blistering sun. My skin became darker then it ever could be back home in the mountains of Montana. My hands blistered with the use of cleaning chemicals and my muscles ached from hand polishing the aluminum surfaces blinding me from the suns rays’ reflection. There were also the good times of that job where I had the privilege of pulling long fuel hoses to fill the aircraft that took men into the sky. My clothes filled with the smell of fuel that did not wash out. I was told of the stories of soaring where no man has gone. The stories of seeing the mountains below with their snow capped peaks. The vast oceans where large ocean going vessels looked like small boats floating in my bath as a child. The hard work, the blistering sun, the gagging smell of aviation fuel was well worth the one story I would hear almost every day.

My hard work paid off one day when I was offered a free flight. A chance of a lifetime to become one with the sky. After that first flight, I found myself wanting more. I worked hard and longer to save money to learn to fly. After achieving that goal in a powered aircraft, I was told that the only true way that man could fly is in a glider. I would learn to leave all things back on mother earth and rely only on my own senses with out any power but the wind the Creator gives us. I took the plunge to learn to soar.

A few years later I returned to my home in Montana where I found my true love. She was always there waiting for me to return for her. At the time we were raising our family I continued to fly powered aircraft and gliders but my life was changed forever one day.

Early one morning in spring, I rented a glider from our local airport for the day. The day was brightly lit from the sun and its rays warmed my skin. The wind was blowing from the west with an occasional gust letting me know that it was a good day to soar. The tow plane lifted me high into the air. It pulled me to 5000 feet then 7000 and finally released my glider at 11000 feet high above the surrounding peaks. With the click of the release lock I was alone in my craft floating along. Looking down I saw white snowcaps on mountains surrounded by the colors of wildflowers growing up to the snowcaps. I saw the black lines of roads crossing through the valleys with dots moving along them. I saw the movement of deer in heards along the snowcaps picking the new wildflowers as a meal for their young. I saw the body of mother earth below me in all it grandeur. I was soaring.

As I came closer to mother earth, I saw an eagle dart across my bow, Then another. What is this I said to myself? As I looked I saw the pair fly into the sun side by side. As I watched the pair fly into the sun I wondered why just as I did as a child. I asked the Creator to tell me why an eagle flies into the sun. Upon asking, I was taken into an updraft where my craft was pushed up and spun uncontrollably. Upon reaching the top of the updraft the wind forced me off to the side pushing me with a force I have never encountered. Upon regaining my senses and control of the glider, I found myself at 12000 feet. I felt the air thin in my lungs as I became light headed from the lack of oxygen. I descended in hopes to gain more air to live another day. Upon decent to 10000 feet I felt I had asked the Creator to answer a question I had no business asking. The updraft was my answer I thought to myself.

Upon regaining enough air in my lungs, I floated along looking at the earth below planning my decent to the ground. I was exhausted from the ordeal. My heart pounded. I felt the blood rushing through my hands and feet. My chest felt like an explosion had taken place inside. Then I saw the eagle once more. He flew past on my left. Then the second flew past on my right. The pair joined together with the touch of their wing tips in front of my craft. After touching wingtips they crossed each other and raced to the sun only to meet in the middle of an arch at the top of the turn to once again touch wing tips and fly together. They aimed their bodies at my craft wing tip to wing tip and descended below me from the front. Together the pair made the shape of a heart in the sky. I turned my glider to grasp a view from the descending pair but saw nothing. A few moments later I saw the pair appear to tumble together as they flew. Wingtip to wingtip they flew as they danced in the sky. Soaring and turning, flying together. As I glided along the pair stayed with me dancing. After a few moments in time the pair flew off together in close formation to the west until the two became one dot in the sky then disappeared. I now know why I was tossed back into the sky. The creator answered my question but wanted me to see the dance for myself. He gave me the push I needed to view the dance.

Upon landing at the field I departed from, I felt reborn with new meaning to my life. The Creator has shown me the dance of the eagle. I felt new life with in myself. I looked up into the sky to thank our Creator and felt blesses. After a moment I heard the call of the eagle. Turning my head I once again saw the pair descending toward me. They passed over and climbed into the sun. At that moment I saw something floating back to earth very gently. I raced to the area I felt the object would land at. As I looked up I saw a feather floating down toward me. I reached for the sun and the feather landed in my hands. It was the feather of a Golden Eagle. I do believe the pair that showed me the Dance of the Eagle gifted it to me.

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Don't ask me what I think about something unless you want a truthful anwser. It may not be the anwser you are looking for.

It's better to fly with the eagles then drive with the turkeys.