First, Allisonn, I will answer your question. I need the big picture to be obvious from the get-go. I never get on the road without a destination in mind.

Now, I will tell you a hawk story. I see Red-Shouldered Hawks in my area nearly every single day. On the rare occasion, I've seen a Cooper's. As I walked my husband into his dialysis center last Wednesday, I heard a bird call that was unfamiliar to me. The center has a thick forest to the north and I thought I saw a hawk or buzzard fly amongst the treetops but wasn't certain. After taking him inside, I was walking to my car when I heard the same unfamiliar call. I took out my phone and used my Merlin app to identify the sound. It was a Red-Tailed Hawk. I haven't seen or heard him since, but I keep hoping!

About 18 years ago, my husband had major surgery - an aorta bypass. We'd only been together a couple of years and I was terrified. The estimated time for surgery crawled by as I sat in the waiting room. When the surgery was supposed to be over, no doctor came to see me. One by one, others met with doctors and left to see their loved ones. I was alone. I paced and paced. Then, I saw a Red-Shouldered Hawk on the top of a light pole outside the waiting room window. He was looking directly at me. As we stared at one another for several minutes, I remembered that hawks symbolized the big picture, not getting bogged down in details and worries. They encourage us to soar above the melee. I stopped worrying. He was telling me that Ben would be okay. The hawk left his perch and flew by the window several times before disappearing in the darkening sky. I waited another 30 minutes before the doctor came to tell him the surgery was more challenging than expected but that it went amazingly well.