Following the Great Blue Heron

  Today I found out Cody likes when I speak to him in French. Maybe I sound more animated in French. Certainly, I don't sound French. Yet he sits when I say, "Assey!" He gives me a paw when I say, "Donnez-moi!" He grins when I say, "Tu es aimable!"

I let the sunset pink fade from the sky before taking Cody for a walk. We walked in the gloaming. The sun was setting behind the foothills. Beautiful clouds of water vapor sailed across the sky.

When we came out of the tunnel where the trail goes under the road, I saw a great blue heron. He winged by not more than 20 feet above me. He flew back the way Cody and I had come. He disappeared in the trees on the other side of the road.

Cody was running free. I called him in my awful French. "Viens!" I said, and "Asseyez-vous. Assey!"

A jogger was coming along the path with a golden retriever. Another jogger was coming along the left fork of the path. They both stopped. The black-winged blue heron had flown back. The joggers were looking up at him. His wings flowed like ink brushes against the fading light.

I put Cody's leash on and walked back to the joggers. "Can you see where he went?" I asked them. "He's on the other side of the road," the woman said. "Was it a heron. It had big wings."

Cody and I continued our walk. I let him off the leash again to run along the fence. Then we turned to walk back along the path.

Perhaps we would see the Great Blue Heron on the other side of the road.

On the other side of the road, "perhaps" turned into a longing to see this exemplary being again. A thought came up that the Great Blue Heron might like his privacy -- much as I like mine.

We walked out of the underpass. The branches of the big cottonwood loomed above us. I looked up. I looked and looked. I didn't see the heron in the top of that tree.

Cody and I walked along the banks of the creek. I looked into the water. I looked and looked. I didn't see the heron. I saw reflections of black tree branches in the water. I saw lighted house windows in the water. I saw amber street lights in the water. I didn't see the blue heron.

Cody and I walked along to the next bridge. I stood at the bridge. I looked into the water. I looked up along the creek. The water here was shallow and still.

I decided I was not going to see the Great Blue Heron.

Still, I could walk along the creek a little further.

Cody was walking close and nice. I was curious to look at the water. I saw a couple of stars.

I looked on down the path. I turned back to look across the creek. The Great Blue Heron rose up from the meadow behind the creek. He flew right over Cody and me. I followed him with my eyes. He flew and I followed. I wanted to see where he would come down. I watched him disappear into a black point, and then into nothing. He had flown a couple hundred yards.

I felt blessed.

A friend with big wings had said hello.