This article is the first post by my wife 
THE BIRD HAS FINALLY FLOWN AGAIN!
The Bird's "Flight of FREEDOM "!
They call me “The Bird”…. My husband says it’s because of my constant “squawking” about something or other (mostly in a good way), but really it’s because of my inborn free spirit…I used to “Fly “ a lot!...Oh no…get your mind out of the gutter…not in that way…no, I used to fly a lot because I was always really “High” on life…I was passionate, excited to be alive and wanting to try everything that would give me a feeling of awe! So Fly I did, and thus the name “The Bird”….
The Bird ”flying” high on life….just having fun!
Having more fun as I turned everyone's world upside down!
Born in Canada, raised partly in Europe….one peculiarly interesting thing that happened to me as a child was that I did grade 4 in 3 different languages in the space of 2 years, English, German and Italian…needless to say…I’m an expert in the grade 4 elementary curriculum!
So Where Does The Flying Bird Come Into The Picture?
….things excited me and it was noticeable …my mother’s friends used to call me “The Earthquake” I used to earn the odd buck by walking down my parents’ long hallway on my hands and if I got to the end, my father would “reward” me with a quarter…… Life was fun and I was very excited to be living it…..
Some more “flying” for silly fun
After childhood and a rather vagabondish adolescence, (I moved from Switzerland back to Canada when I was 19), I finally settled on becoming a Piano Technician which I was fortunate enough to practice for about 15 years,…. but that’s another story. Bouncing to and fro between Canada and Switzerland was a little messy, but hey, everyone ends up having a little mess in one’s life, right? So I carried on in my “Care-Free / High-on-Life / Free-As- A Bird” mode for plenty of years to come….
The Bird "flying" on a horse
1.) The Bird “flying “ on a camel
2.) The Bird "flying" down a beautiful hill of lush green grass
3.) This sand dune in Tunisia was “flown” down by the Bird, but there’s no shot of it because I was wearing the camera!! (That was REAL dumb!), but it was a “hell of a ride!!.. and well worth it”, I might add !!
The Bird “flying” on a ski-doo
The Bird "flying" in a mound of leaves
The Bird "flying" at a Tug-Of-War
But things (sigh!) ...were soon to change...
The Bird Gets Caged!!
Sickness hit at 39 : Ulcerative Colitis, and that can be a nasty piece of business… My first flare up almost killed me….that is…the doctor did that, because he prescribed a medication that I reacted badly to…they had given me 1 month to live…!
The Bird got its wings clipped...or so it seemed...
The Bird gets Released!!
For 16 years now the Bird has been trying to take off in flight again and again, but each time some nasty flare up would get in the way…once being house bound for about 3 years, another time getting an infection that …AGAIN…almost killed me..(I must actually be a cat with 7 lives to live!!)…I really never thought I would fly again…until this past summer…
My body finally cooperated enough to get me on a plane and take a trip....my free spirit was ready to take off...the Bird was released from her cage...and FLY she did !!
The Bird "flies" again…canoeing in the wilderness, like in the good ol' days...
...And "flies" again ..on the Enterprise Bridge
...And "flies" again...LITERALLY!! (TO-I-Fly)
So my message to you, in this, my first introductory piece is: “Never give up Folks …if you’re a caged free spirit, no matter what the reason (be it sickness, negative circumstances, financial problems, family problems, depression) …keep trying to set yourself free…you may not be able to change your circumstances, but you can change your attitude and that will automatically improve your life…..Never give up and someday you may be able to fly again!
Thanks for reading folks. The next time I want to write more about my experience at the "To-I-Fly".
Until then,