On the balcony

Iwoke yesterday morning, and my cat, Felix, was nowhere to be found.

“Felix! Where are you?”

In the morning, I put milk in my coffee and a little milk in a tiny bowl for Felix, and I put both my coffee and his milk in the microwave just long enough for his milk to be warm. (My mother says Felix is spoiled. What does she know?)

But Felix was not around for his milk. Finally, I found him hiding under a living room chair. I poked him, “Hey, Felix!”

He let out a little “Meep!” that meant, “Don’t bug me!” He was staring straight out from under the chair toward the sliding balcony door. It had been a nice night, and we had left the door half open with the screen door closed. This is not any kind of security issue, since we live on the 10th floor of our building downtown.

I looked in the direction Felix was staring.

There, sitting more or less on top of a potted plant on the balcony railing, was a Canadian goose.

“Oh my gosh!”

“Meep!”

I went to fetch my husband, Peter. “Peter! You would not believe what is on the balcony.” Then, because I knew he really would not believe what was on the balcony, I told him to come and see for himself. The goose was much too large to sit either on the railing or in the pot hanging from it, but she had somehow tipped over the pot and was straddling it and the pot next to it. She looked perfectly comfortable. She looked like she might lay an egg.

“Oh my gosh!” Peter said.

And with that, the goose decided her tranquil resting spot was getting a little too crowded, and she took off. Her great wings lifted her up from my toppled plant, and she flew away. Felix arched his back and watched in amazement. We heard her call as she flew off, and Felix scampered over to the screen door to see if she was truly gone – or perhaps to see if there were more geese coming to take her place.

I have no idea how a goose landed on our balcony, 10 stories in the air. Landing on a narrow railing – even with a potted plant as a landing pad – demonstrates a kind of agility I honestly didn’t think geese were capable of.

The last couple of days, I’ve felt a little unsettled. I feel as if I’m going through a lot of changes very quickly and I haven’t had enough time to absorb them all. I feel as if my feet are not quite on the ground. I feel considerably less at ease than that goose, balanced on a railing 10 stories in the air. It’s disorienting, and it sometimes makes me a little crabby.

Changes are almost never what I expect them to be. I have an idea of how things will be and, whatever that looks like in my head, it’s different in real life. Even if the change is a good one, it’s not as easy as I imagined it would be, and it’s certainly not as comfortable.

But I know that I would not want a life that never changed and – even if I wanted it – change will come, regardless. My only choice is how I greet change and how much grace I bring to the situation.

This morning, I’m learning from Felix. He’s no longer hiding under the chair. He’s keeping an eye on the balcony door. Anything could happen on the balcony.

Till next time,

Carrie