Lasting Impressions

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. - John Muir

I mowed the lawn this morning and noticed a Robin bird-dogging me. He kept a safe distance but seemed to be lurking and trailing me as I cut my swaths across the yard. I tried to telegraph with a gentle glance and body language that he could patrol the ground and I would avoid him. I also made an effort to be calm and fluid in my methodical maneuverings of the mower and turn it away from him rather than approach.

After a few go rounds, a large moth caught me by surprise when it fluttered up from a hiding spot in the tall grass and danced in the air between the space of the uncut blades and the freshly leveled swath. The Robin I had almost forgotten about by that time whooshed directly in front of me and, in a flash of wings and beak, quickly scooped up the moth and flew off to the side, a few feet away.

The captured moth disappeared in two gulps. Impressive. One might guess he has done this before. I continued to mow and think about all the wildlife that calls my yard home. I wondered if the snake would come out to race the mower again this year. (We have done that little routine three times. I slow up when I see him and he looks at me to see who is ahead. He may have a different view of "racing" than I do.) Little things I no longer take for granted make me happy to mow my own lawn. The encounter with the robin offered yet another chance to see my little patch of green and the life it supports in a new way.

As I finished the remaining segment, I started thinking about first impressions and, like my view of the robin, how little of a person that can represent. First impressions are well and good but it is the last impression that makes the difference. Or is it?

The great majority of people we meet in our lives will have contact with us only once. There is no time to create that all important first impression; there is only who you are at that moment. NO matter all the good you have done and the good you will yet do, they remember whatever it was and whoever you appeared to be at the moment you touched them. And so it goes, not first or last, just an impression of contact that may or may not be lasting. And such is life.

I finished the lawn and noticed that the Robin was still in the vicinity, stalking unsuspecting moths in the yard across the street. Ready to resume my inside itinerary, I went into the house to check email and get back to work. There it was, a note from Nic Askew, a favorite filmmaker of introspective web mini-features, about the status of his new project. I became a fan after watching his mini segments on Monday 9am TV.

Contemplating his latest venture, Soul Biographies, he questions how we see others and what it is that we really see. The concept meshed perfectly with my shift in awareness after the encounter with the Robin. I am not in a position to offer an unbiased opinion. Mr. Askew has already won me over. This short video is a tease for the upcoming series.



Nic Askew's Soul Biographies is expected to be up and running in June - check out Monday 9am TV for more information and some wonderfully inspiring short films. Clearly, he is busy exploring and creating lasting impressions.

My encounter with the Robin was a conscious connection. In our brief interaction, he seemed to respond to something in my very rudimentary signaling efforts enough to persist in following me and risk darting in front of an obnoxiously loud, intimidating lawnmower to snag a meal, possibly suspecting I would pause to give him time. I did. Somehow, it felt like he trusted me. The memory evokes a smile. There is something about gaining the trust of a Robin that expands my awareness to glimpse the hidden potential for connection that lies waiting to be tapped in all of our encounters and makes me feel like I have made peace with a larger part of myself. We are so much more than what we seem and that "more" it isn't something outside of us; it's all safely tucked within, awaiting an opportunity to be discovered and unleashed.

Regardless of whatever really happened, my perception of my interaction with the robin made a lasting impression.