Owls

I collect owls. As is the way of such collections, it started with just a few token items when our school went to small learning communities and I became a part of a group that took the owl for its symbol.  Then I'd see one here or there in an antique mall or online on Etsy that was clever, and I'd add it.  My mother added a few old pieces she'd had for years.  I bought one made from an old shovel from a craftsman at Chimneyville. The next thing I knew, the owls had grown to to dominate an entire large bookcase shelf.

Then people started giving me owls.  This year, my wonderful students have given me four.  A past student has brought one one.  A colleague brought me one she'd had around for a long time.  The owls keep flying in to be a part of the parliament gathering behind my desk.  (And I do just love the collective nouns for birds... Owl parliaments are the only parliaments I can support...) 

Of course, many of the things I have with owls are functional in some way.  I have a little planter on my desk that I use to hold post-its and index cards.  I also have a beautiful carved pin of cherry from an artist on Etsy.

Yesterday, that day that shall live in infamy, one of my AP students brought me a yellow and green metal owl wall plaque.  It has that wonderful, startled look to it that I enjoy so much about owls, and that great retro feel to it of things that come from the 60s and 70s.  It made me smile just to see it.  I hung it before 1st period started since I keep a hammer and nails in my filing cabinet along with all my other "Girl Scout" gear, and it looked out in puzzlement at the events of the day with me.  When the student gave it to me, she told me how she'd found it in an antique mall, and that it had a "twin."

Today, before school began, another of the students in that same sweet class showed up as I was standing at my duty post outside my door with a brown paper bag and handed it to me.  She'd gotten me the twin, identical in almost every way except the way it faces and the decoration on its belly.  I put it up, too, and the two of them watched the goings on today, much better all the way around.  Giving it to me was such a kind gesture.  The things my students do constantly humble me.

Whether I found them online, rescued them from a flea market, or got them as gifts given to me by someone else, what started as an afterthought has become something symbolic and encouraging.  Athena's owl, that traditional symbol for learning and wisdom, sits everywhere in my classroom.  Maybe some form of inspiration will shake off those wings somehow and do some good.  They do me good just by letting me know that somebody somewhere thought enough of me to care.  That is a powerful inspiration and magic all of its own.