A foggy drive. Within the fog something white on the lake caught my eye. A quick turn around and into the park I went. Scampering out of the car I zoomed my camera in to see what I thought surely were my eyes’ distortion. A pelican in Carthage, Missouri? A lone white pelican grooming in the fog dampened early morning sun? It wasn’t until I uploaded my pictures that night that my distortion became a reality. Yep, a white pelican. Apparently they do migrate through Missouri. A lone white pelican grooming alongside two cormorants.

I pondered why he was alone. I pondered what appears to be, perhaps, three legs? I pondered his lake friends mimicking his grooming. It’s a very big lake and there they were. As I pondered the sighting, I recalled a quote from Hugh Laurie, the actor in House.

“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”

And then the Whisper. “He’s not alone. Three legs, twelve legs, what does it matter? Is it really a journey? Or, little hobbit, is it simply now? Just like the moment you were fully engaged in that one fleeting moment and saw the gift…in the Now.”