I have looked through these binoculars maybe hundreds of times and never seen what I just saw. It started with the sound. I could hear Charlie’s music in her headphones blasting through their plastic housing, and it was making me even more annoyed with her. On top of that, I kept hearing this repetitive sound outside the car. I just wanted to hide my brain from the world, but something about the sound outside the car was intriguing.

I rolled down my window and poked my head out. Nothing was obvious. As soon as I sat back down in my seat, the sound started up again outside. It was a consistent high, low sound. I should’ve known from all of the times that you took me birding in the backyard.

It took me longer than it probably should have to remember that I had your binoculars with me. I started scanning the tree line and found some activity in the big tree by the driveway. You know, the one I fell out of? After I got the binoculars focused on the commotion up in the tree, my mouth dropped open.

The leader bird was dressed up like a military commander, and two little birds were following its lead. They were out on a morning march, it seemed like. The whole scene reminded me of when you used to take Charlie and me on summer morning walks. We would have followed you into battle. ❤️