I’m reading a book about birding, the over the top birders that try to see the most birds possible, perhaps someday even all the birds. A large number of birders, mostly men, engage in a competition at least with themselves, over how many birds they can identify and list. Some go for the life list, and others go for a big year, how many birds can one see and identify in one year. I love reading these kinds of books, but I have no desire to accumulate and tally lists. I love to watch birds, and I enjoy identifying a few of the interesting ones, but mostly I like being outside with nature, birds, and insects and other wildlife. I have no desire to count the number of states I have visited, (44), or the number of countries,( 8), or National Parks, (no idea). I remember hiking with my mom in the Tetons, and saying it would be a fun way to frame travel, to see how many parks or states I could hike in, or bike in. I felt like it would give me a framework for the adventure. She thought about it a moment, then said, “I would be afraid the joy of travel and experience would be lost in the counting.” She is right, at least for me. Even so, I love these types of bird counting books, and have read many, (8).
Right now the book I am reading is called To See Every Bird on Earth, by Dan Koeppel. Dan has written a biography of his dad, and his own childhood, and framed it around the birding craze that his dad was part of. In his dad’s story birding was a dream deferred. He started as a young teenager, and counted and listed birds most of his life, but for a time he quit in order to get the medical degree and career his parents wanted him to have. Chasing birds was not a career, and biologist or ornithologist wasn’t a high enough aspiration for them. He gave up for a while his dream, and focused on the things we all have to focus on, work, family and obligations. At one time the author wrote the following quote:
“Sometimes we have to find a way to change our lives, to re-embrace that which seems to be vanishing. Other times, we simply abandon our dreams.” The book is a testament that one might abandon his dream for a time, but then later one might re-embrace the dream. I am sure most people have dreams they have given up on, even if they followed other dreams. When we make decisions in our lives, sometimes we have to decide between things, have to abandon one thing to access the other thing. We chose family over graduate school, or the other way around. We chose one career and not the other. But sometimes we can find our dreams, either completely or in a like manner. We are never too old to learn a new thing, never too old to try something new. A couple of weeks ago an 81 year old woman finished the AT. I play tennis with an 82 year old. My last blog was about how we don’t know the end of the story. This is true with dreams as well. Until we have completely reached the “end of the story” we will always have the possibility of achieving some dream, or a part of one at least.
I have started drawing. All my life I doodled, and scribbled, and enjoyed sketching but I never actually studied how to do this. I just messed around. Now I have a teacher, who happens to be a family member, and I plan to see how much I can learn. My first homework assignment has been to sketch a leaf a day. What a cool assignment. Most days I thought about taking some time to sketch, sometimes I would take a pad of paper and pencil with me on hikes, but often I would either forget or decide not to take the time. Now, I have permission! I draw every day, and it brings me great joy! I love starting the day outside, looking for a leaf to draw, or going on a walk and picking up a leaf. Other times I open my ID book and draw the leaf, bud and flower of a tree, and that helps me to remember the names.
This month I have walked in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. Walking is always a part of my vacation, and a stress reliever when my travel isn’t vacation. I have covered 64.3 miles, not that I am a counter, and my total for the year is 460. This puts me at the Abingdon Gap Shelter in TN, but the very next shelter is in VA, so I am steadily moving north. I wonder if a sketch pad and pencil would be too heavy to carry on a through hike, along with all the books I want to read, and a notebook for writing.
