I have been chatting with the cousins since March 2020 during the first dark days of Covid. We are up to 18 now, first cousins, second cousins, cousins of cousins and one auntie who we call our Queen Bee. The other day, Queen Bee posted “…when I went out to get my newspaper there was pair of Yellow Finch feeding on my black-eyed Susans and a hummingbird at the feeder. So cool.”
I love hummingbirds and recalled something I recorded from the back of a card years ago and posted it to the chat, “Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation.” The Queen Bee loved it. I followed up with another post recalling the time I was sitting on the front porch at our old house upstate when a hummingbird hovered just on the other side of the screen looking at me square in the face. I remember imagining the bird was a reincarnated ancestor telling me, “Everything is going to be all right.”
Through the eyes of Queen Bee I was lead to recall the beautiful legend of the hummingbird, my personal experience, and then share this with the cousins. I see an appreciation of nature and beautiful prose as well as my imagination in finding a connection to the hummingbird. This flight of fantasy however unscientific or nonfactual it is, still serves as a balm for me in today’s chaos, division and violence providing some assurance that everything is going to be all right.