I’m sitting on a houseboat by the bay reflecting on this statistic.

As of Monday, the Gun Violence Archive had counted 67 mass shootings in the United States this year. The archive, a nonprofit research organization, defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people were killed or injured. There are only 44 days so far this year.

Yesterday afternoon I followed a Snowy Egret as he or she stepped carefully around the houseboat at low tide.  Now, the water is high.  I wonder why so many  humans struggle to flow up and down with the tides.  

Someone swims by the dock today, no wetsuit.  The water temperature in Richardson Bay is 53 degrees. I’m cold in a wool sweater and jacket, and I’m in the air.

Birds fly by, together and alone.  They sweep and flow, know when and where to land.  There’s so much beauty around, and in us, and tragically a few are lost. Then we as a community and ecosystem struggle with their actions as we deal with pain and loss.