A Foundation

From a frosty glistening mass of green grass and scattered leaves has emerged a warmer fall afternoon beneath an ever so common blanket of clouds. The Maine Anjou cattle nibble their way across the sparsely green pasture toward the recently scattered bales of fresh hay. Gracie, the ever-observant Golden Retriever sits quietly watching the livestock outside through the clear glass window in the front door. The pecan tree is still giving up it’s bounty as the nut bearing hulls open to release the varied brown renderings. Ravens swarm in from a northern location and noisily grab hold of the bounty the tree has borne. With amazing precision, they pound their beaks sharp edge soundly in the center of the pecan as it cracks to render up the tender “meat” of the nut. A couple of the larger birds fly to a hardened split limb and demonstrate the skill they possess in choosing the wooden foundation upon which they pound their beaks for an easier and more productive return. Those who utilize the limb as an instrument in the “shelling” process have learned to accomplish it with intent. As this possessor of Parkinson’s disease watches the ravens undertake the task of unwrapping their harvest, the thought of “intent” rises to the forefront. The pecan tree has been there for more than fifty years, bearing its abundant renderings of a harvest for those who would collect, gather, or simply crack the shells to indulge. To the casual observer, the consuming of the nuts seems just normal and perhaps random behavior. To the casual observer, the act of walking seems normal and perhaps even random. To this possessor of PD, however, the act of “walking” is anything but normal or random. The “normal” process has become one of shuffling. There are those who would call the shuffling “abnormal” and perhaps it seems that way to most. However, to the PD possessor shuffling has become the normal. Although “normal”, it is far from comfortable. Try doing it for a while and test your endurance! Shuffling has become the unintentional act of moving from one location to another and that appears to have become “normal” for some of us. As the Raven has flip-flopped the random pecan and learned that an “intentional” peck to the shell positioned on the limb’s sturdy support yields a larger harvest than the “normal” peck on the softer ground, so too has this possessor of PD learned that a walking stride which appears as “normal” can be accomplished only by “intent” to lift, stretch forward, support the other side; lift, move forward…. This movement may appear awkward to some but is closer to what we’ve grown to accept as “normal” strides to the untrained eye. The appearance of “normal” has become the act that is “intentional”. I wonder if the Raven understands the act of intentional slamming against a solid surface has become to the casual eye an act that just appears normal? Normal or intentional, the result of getting to what one desires gives gratitude a solid foundation upon which to grow!