I went down to Ft. Fisher to see my friend, Stephanie, this afternoon. She would have been 60 today. She missed this special birthday by less than a month, which really is a shame because, somehow, sixty seems a much more appropriate age to die than fifty-nine. Fifty-nine just speaks of unfinished business...the business of life, you know? Sixty is acceptable. Sad,...but acceptable.
It was afternoon before I even realized what this day was, and that has less to do with my thoughts of Steph and more to do with the fact that I’ve turned into one of these old ladies who never know what the actual date is. But, that’s another story.
So, I went on Steph’s facebook page and sent a message because I needed to do something to acknowledge the specialness of her birthday. But, somehow that just didn’t really reasonate within my heart, and I had this nagging feeling that I needed to get myself to Ft. Fisher. I tried pushing it back because I had so much to do and was horribly behind in everything I was supposed to be doing. But, as the afternoom went on, the feeling just got stonger and finally, I listened to my source, followed the directions, put on my flip flops and headed out the door. Didn’t even make it to the bottom of the steps, when source tells me to go back and get my camera...I didn’t even question it...just went back and got it.
Got to Ft. Fisher, not hoping to connect with Steph, just knowing that I would. Like before, it didn’t take long. I got there, slid out of my flipflops and walked towards the beach. Just as I reached the ocean’s edge, here comes a beautiful pod of pelicans, and they weren’t quite in their “V” formation, but, obviously working towards it.
Close your eyes and picture the pelicans zooming in over the ocean...think of the “V” formation...the lines are formed but they’ve just not quite come together in true “V” formation. Imagine the pelicans on the top of the almost “V” formation, and then imaging the ones on the bottom, flying up to meet the top crew.
Got it? OK...now the lead pelican, of the bottom crew, starts flying in a downward direction and for half a second her crew follows, but she takes an even deeper dip towards the beach and her crew doesn’t follow, but moves towards the upper crew, which, I would guess, is their goal.
This wayward pelican flew right where I was standing and didn’t go any further inland, she just flew right over me and then rejoined her crew...and resumed the lead position. She didn’t come close...didn’t lose any altitude, but she flew right over me...on the beach.
Well, of course, it was Steph. I knew it the minute I saw the pelicans. I knew it because I had seen her riding the pelicans the day her spirit left this planet. But, this time, I didn’t think so much that she was riding the pelican...she was the pelican.
Is this hard to believe? Not really. I just finished a book that spoke of the messages that people, who have died, leave for those of us who are still here. In one incident, the very young person, who had passed, left a message via a movie which happened to be in a DVD case that happened to fall off the shelf just when her special friend was in the video store. The writer made it seem very real and, I’m thinking, if someone who has gone to the other side can send a message in this form, why would I not believe that my friend couldn’t, or wouldn’t, send a message via a pelican at her favorite beach.
Dave wrote a wonderful story of a man whose deepest wish was to be a pelican for a day and eventually he happened upon a peilican who has a similar wish..only to be a human for a day. So, long story short, they find a way to make that happen. My feeling is that Stephanie is a pelican right now, or at least she was when I was there.
Her message was the same as before........all is well. I’m fine...I’m free.
So, I waalked the beach for a while, kinda looking for shark’s teeth, but not serious looking...I knew that wasn’t why I was there. I told Steph how much we loved her and missed her. She knew.
I left the beach and drove down to the end of the island to watch the sunset. It was incredibly beautiful and the vitality of the colors were just amzing... but what else would I expect...after all, it was Steph’s sunset.
We may lose the physical presence of a special person, but we never lose the love. This, I do believe.
