Was It Just a Chance Encounter, or Was It a Final Good-Bye?

by Monty Fowler

I have been putting together "E"-Notes for OVEC since 1997. This is the 13th time I have done so, and it has been the hardest. The detached objectivity that this former journalist applies to writing projects broke down this time, because so many of the pictures, stories and quotes are about someone I knew and admired, Laura Forman.

We were friends, colleagues, fellow eco-extremists... lots of different labels, none of which communicate what a wonderful and unique person Laura was. She was always telling me what a good job I was doing, when all I do most of the time is sit in the trench and pass the ammo - SHE's the one up on the firing line.

I decided to share this incident with the world at Was It Just a Chance Encounter, or Was It a Final Good-Bye? large, after telling Dianne, Janet and Viv, because I could feel Laura giving me a poke in the eye if I didn't:

"I was somewhat reluctant to tell anyone about this, kind of the feeling you get when you crack open one of those doors and hear the eerie wind blowing on the other side, but after I thought about it, I decided I had to.

"It was Tuesday morning, Dec. 11, the day after Laura died. I was working at my desk, which has a large window in front of it, and a bird feeder hanging on the pine tree right outside ( I mean, what else would be hanging there?).

"It was about 10 that morning when a bird started setting up an awful racket out there. I looked out, and immediately identified a Carolina wren as the source of all the noise. This was kind of odd, because I had never seen one at my feeder before, even though it had been up for more than a year. What was even odder was that this Carolina wren wasn't on the feeder - it was flitting among the branches, and more than once clung to the window frame, chattering all the while. It kept flitting around from the pine tree to the window frame, but never once landed on the feeder or the ground under it, and did not stop chattering.

"After about 10 minutes, it went away, and I have not seen a Carolina wren at that feeder since. "I did not know that Carolina wrens were one of Laura's favorite birds until I went to the memorial service four days later and saw the picture of one she had painted. "So now I am thinking, and feel that I have to believe, that that was Laura, coming to say good-bye."