A few weeks ago, a delightful image popped up in my social media feed. It was a baby owl, sitting on a branch, but leaning over as far as possible so he was looking back at me from an upside-down position.

That’s a different perspective, I thought, later considering how valuable looking at things from a different perspective can actually be.

Several years ago, my husband found an old hand water pump in his customer’s garbage and brought it home to create a lovely water feature in the corner of our yard.  Like an abundant wellspring, water streams continuously from the pump into a small metal bucket and then a large barrel. 

A number of years ago, when I was writing a column on leadership, I shared a story that bears repeating:

As a mom of many, my thousands of trips to the supermarket have taught me an important truth. The chances of my leaving at least one bag of groceries behind are pretty high. The chances of my retrieving what I’ve lost are just about zip.

As we pulled into the diner for lunch, I noticed a large black bird with a wide wingspan swooping overhead. As I exited my car and walked toward the building, I realized the bird, a black vulture, had descended on the roof edge along the gutter, now perched wing-to-wing with a second vulture. As we got closer, we could see them both looking intently at us with beady eyes, their heads moving ever so slightly lower as we got closer.