Quiet Beauty in a Full House: The Story of a Bird on a Stationary Ceiling Fan Blade

Ten seconds could be an exaggeration for the amount of time our eyes met. It rose below the porch ceiling and landed six feet from where I was sitting. The gleam of her ruby ​​red throat took me by surprise.

It flew under the porch roof and landed on one of the five stationary white ceiling fan blades on the back porch.

We had attended a 4th of July picnic the day before with my family, most of whom I hadn’t seen in over 30 years. Today, we relaxed and visited with family members we hadn’t seen before at the picnic.

I know that the ruby ​​red throated bird was a male because the color of its feathers was vibrant. I felt deep gratitude for the unexpected visitor with wings. Although we only exchanged a brief glance, I knew that he delivered a specific message to me. In the blink of an eye, I knew it was a moment that could only be understood in silence.

In silence, I spoke of her beauty and the magnificence of this miniature moment in time. It flew away almost as fast as it arrived, but I will always remember the beauty of its story.

Excited by this rare sighting of my new winged friend, I exclaimed: “I just saw a red-throated ruby ​​…” His answer was full of doubt because the next words I heard were: “Oh, you just saw a red-breast robin. “.

I knew their answer was wrong because they hadn’t seen what I had seen. With my sketch journal in hand, I drew a rough diagram of the bird perched on the ceiling fan’s palette. I recorded some notes on our family picnic because I wanted to remember the gift even though others were still skeptical.

I know what I saw. Like a shooting star, the arrival and departure of the ruby ​​red throated bird was just a miniature memory.

On the way home from the family picnic, we stopped at a sidewalk market for a break. We bought fresh apples and walked for a few minutes before starting our long drive home.

As I was walking through the aisles of the sidewalk market, I saw a book about birds and quickly flipped through the book to search for the alleged ruby-red-throated bird. The photo of my new friend with wings was in the book, but I was the only one looking for it.