Look to the Skies

Anyone who knows me knows that when I am outdoors, I look to the sky – at night I look to the stars and to the moon, during the day to cloud formations, and butterflies on a sunny day, aeroplanes with their vapour trail or even the occasional hot air balloon.

 

I love watching the different birds, also – from the cheeky magpie, seagulls at sea, which remind me of Jonathan Livingston Seagull – and my absolute favourites – the graceful and majestic red kites that soar in the skies above Oxfordshire.

 

I don't remember exactly when I first became aware of them; I moved to a business park in the Oxfordshire countryside eight years ago, and noticed these large birds hovering in the air above the park. Their sheer grace drew my eye, and I would find myself observing them during my lunchtime walks, and the sight of one always lifted my spirits.

 

At one time these birds were endangered, and so it was unlikely that you would see more than one or two at the same time. In fact, I think one of the reasons they caught my attention was because it was usually one lone red kite, circling in the sky, catching the air currents, and adjusting their tail feathers ever so slightly to maintain their balance.

 

Over the years they have improved in numbers and they are thriving, so that you may  now find a group of them in the Oxfordshire skies.

 

In spite of this, they tend to fly alongside each other, whilst giving each other plenty of space. And I've come to realise that if I see one kite, there are likely other kites nearby – perhaps on the other side of the park or the neighbouring town.

 

It tells me that whilst I may see a kite that appears to be on its own, there are others of its kind in the world, whether I can see them in that moment or not.

 

This was the wonderful surprise awaiting me on my recent trip to India – my first day in New Delhi I happened to glance up to the skies, and spot a kite! I recognised the same familiar outline in the sky, the same flight pattern, and I was delighted to discover during my week in India, that there are many of them – everywhere I went, I was greeted by them, and in a way reminded of home even whilst discovering a new place.

 

Watching the kites recently I wondered which bird it was that inspired the Wright brothers to invent the aeroplane. I find it fascinating to realise that a bird like the kite may have inspired the invention of the aeroplane, which can fly even higher, and which in turn led to us dreaming of stepping foot on the moon and travelling into space.

 

And yet the kites aren't envious of the aeroplane, they can fly and they can share the skies with the seagulls, magpies and starlings and all the other birds.

 

This is how I've come to feel since being diagnosed and meeting other people with similar challenges – we can know that even if we think we are alone we not lonely and all we need to do to keep hope is to look to the skies.

Lynn