The wind stirred just enough to make the air feel crisp and alive. I looked down the street to see if my daughter’s car was coming. I didn’t expect the moment but that’s the way they are.

It swept over me as I looked up at the sky and a single bird of a sky full of birds changed course and flew in another direction. It was brilliantly lit as I looked up from the rising night because it was high enough to touch the sun’s last rays.

In that moment I saw the mind of the bird as it made a decision and changed its destiny. It had the freedom to fly in any direction, released from the strings of gravity, in the pathless, roadless, colorless sky.

It was simple and beautiful and slightly profound, the bird and I and our creator being the only ones to know.

This weekend my family watched from the ground as a loved one changed course and flew into the light from the dusk below. The moment was breath-catching and breathtaking at once. For an instant we could see into eternity to the path ahead as we said our goodbyes.