I like Aspens, Magpies, and Steller’s Jays. The tree and two birds are things I’d never seen before I went to Colorado. Now that I’ve seen them, I want to see them again. First, the Aspens. Lovely white trunks and leaves that turn as yellow as gold and shimmer in the wind. A grove of them is something else again. Almost too bright to look at. And they’re everywhere in the mountains, as if mountains needed something else to make them special.

Now, Magpies. Big birds with blue wings, white tips, black crowns and just a lovely presence. They were all around the house where we stayed, and it was fun to watch them in the mornings. As for the Steller’s Jays, I caught a glimpse of one at Williams Lake up in the mountains and followed it around with my phone to get a picture. Sort of like paparazzi. I got a shot, enough to ID the bird, but not good enough to publish. Too bad. It looks like a blue jay except its entire head is black, and it’s twice the size.

It feels good to be living again. Getting out. Seeing things. Take birds. I have a bird book I used to cart around everywhere, and I got it out yesterday to mark down my sightings of the two birds listed above. I noticed the first note in the book was 1982. I saw a Cedar Waxwing on a deer hunt. Once upon a time, I liked birding. I believe I’ll get back to it. It’s the sort of thing you can love without worrying that it’s loving you back. You just do it. It’s probably good practice for how you should love people. Just do it. And don’t worry about whether or not they love you back. Just give the gift and let loving be its own reward.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver's Tale