Story 5:

Each Snowflake is Unique, Just Like You

“Listen....my son...listen with all your heart and you will find the answers to all your questions.   Listen to the wind, to the trees, to the stars, to your family, to your heart;  Listen to a wise and loving human, to the lessons of your ancestors, to your inner voice, to the voice of Divine Holy One.  Answers can be found in many places!

So, Shawn a being of Love and Light, talked and listened to The Heart of all our hearts and asked questions in the quest of remembering.”

Once upon a time.....because that’s how stories start,  there was a patient, peaceful young child named Shawn.  Shawn had curly blonde hair, twinkly blue eyes, a smile that could light-up a city block,  an inquisitive mind and most importantly, a heart that loved each and every everything that he came across.

One day, Shawn was sitting reading a book and his mama was watching him. As she watched him, mama could see his lips work to form sounds and letters of words.  Sometimes the words were easy for him and sometimes they were difficult. After a while of having a difficult time reading, Shawn slammed the book closed, curled up and started to cry.  

His mama went over to him and took Shawn into her arms and held him and rocked him and said, “ I think you are a smart little boy and a brave little boy and a patient little boy for never giving up trying to learn how to read. It can be really difficult to do. I am so proud of you.”

They just sat there for a while without talking, without reading, just mama holding her determined, brave, smart, Shawn. After a while Shawn sat up and asked her,  “Mama why am I so different than my friends?  They don’t have any trouble reading so why do I?”

So, his mama said,  “Shawn, each of us is special and each of us learns in a different way but we can accomplish what we work to do. We can only be the special person we are, not who anyone else is.  Can I tell you a story about a group of friends, a group of bird friends?”

Shawn loved the mama’s stories, so he smiled and nodded his 

head, yes. 

Once upon a time, there was a special place in the woods that was the home to many, many different kinds of birds. One year, a variety of birds all hatched at the same time and they grew up together as friends. In the natural course of nature, these birds would not have played together or been friends but in this special place in the woods, that is how it was.  Many things happen outside of the observation of humans.

In this special place in the woods, the birds were all friends and they loved to spend time together. They would talk and fly and soar and dance and laugh and eat and sit on a branch, all of them together. In this group of bird friends, there was an owl, a hummingbird, a crow, a robin and an eagle. 

Each of them had gifts or special abilities and each of them had  challenges or actions they could not do. Or another way to think about this would be to say, for each of them some things were easy, and some things were difficult. 

For instance,  the owl could see really well at night but lots of times was sleeping in the day when the bird friends wanted to play. And the hummingbird could hover in the air like a helicopter and dive as fast as a rocket ship but had to watch out for strong winds, so it didn’t get blown over because of its tiny size.  And the crow had a lot to say and was extremely intelligence but had a hard time just being quiet.  And the robin had beautiful orange feathers and a beautiful voice but was a little vain about that.  And the Eagle could fly higher than some clouds but was always thinking about what next to eat....or who. 

So, one day the bird friends were trying to think about what they could play together and of course the eagle who could fly as high as the clouds said,   “I know, let’s all fly up to that cloud shaped like a castle and play knights!”  All the rest of the bird friends said, that sounds fun, but we can’t fly that high.”

And then the owl said,  “Let’s wait until it’s really dark at night and play hide and go seek!”  And the bird friends said, “that sounds fun, but we can’t see good enough at night to find each other and we might fly into a tree and clunk our heads.”

And then the hummingbird said,  “How about we fly acrobatics in the air and see who can dive down the fastest!”   And the bird friends said, “that sounds fun, but we would crash into the ground if we did that.”

And the robin said,  “How about we sing a beautiful song for each other and show how beautiful our feathers are by doing a ruffle dance in the air.”  And the bird friends said, “that sounds fun, but we don’t have  songbird voices and we don’t know how to ruffle dance.”

And finally, the crow who was really, really smart but talked a real, real lot said,  “I know, how about we have a talent show and each of us can perform what we love to do!”  The bird friends thought that was a fun idea and they made the crow be the show’s director because she loved to talk on and on about what the talent show would be like....or anything.

The next week, after the birds had all practiced their talents, they invited all the creatures and trees of the forest to their talent show. The eagle did an amazing high flight to the clouds and pulled all the clouds into the shape of a castle.....the hummingbird hovered right at each of the audiences’ heads and did gymnastic and....the owl showed how she could fly without light  by putting a blindfold on her eyes and the robin did a song and dance routine from All That Jazz  and the crow......well, the crow directed the show and was the master of ceremony and introduced each one of his friends. 

They had such fun putting on the talent show with each one of them showing their own talents and different ways to be a bird .  They all could fly, just in their own special way and the forest audience loved each one of them.

After each bird shared their talent, the other bird friends ....and all the trees and other creatures of the forest......would applaud in their own way.  Some flapped their wings together, some wiggled their leaves, some put their paws together to show their appreciation of the bird friends.  They could see how unique and amazing each one of the bird friends’ talent was-- none better than the other, each one as amazing as the next.  Each of them could fly and be creative in their own special way.  Each of them appreciated their own gifts and the gifts of the others. 

That night, after the talent show, they all sat on their branch, with their heads under their wings or on each other’s shoulders and went to sleep with smiles on their beaks. 

So, you can see Shawn, that the birds all did things in their own way. 

All the birds could fly but in their own special way. Each of your friends reads in their own special way, but each will read.  Each of them finds somethings difficult to do in life and somethings easy. You are excellent at so many things you do and so creative and you never give up.  And just know that for the things that are difficult, I will always be there to help.  And I will remind you that you are unique among all the world and you will do whatever you do,  with your own fabulous, creative, innovative style.......reading included. 

The end.....but I think it is just the beginning.