Sometimes it is good to be late.

You know how some days you just seem to be running late but you do not really care. I am talking about “commuting” late; five minutes off schedule and now traffic will be a bottle neck. Some days this really stresses me out and other days it does not.

Today I was running late, but there was no stress. I just said “It’s Friday, I do not care!”

As I walked to my car, the air was crisp cold and the sky was gray, but there was no wind and it was a very light gray so it was kind of pleasant.

The air smelled like Spring.

I could hear Canadian geese coming towards me. We called them “honkers” when I was a kid. This “V” shaped wedge of geese, close to twenty in all, flew directly towards me and passed right over my head.

I paused to wonder about why the Leader of the wedge was the Leader. Is it instinct? Do they have a committee meeting? Do they do rock, paper, scissors? Is it a male or a female? If it is a male will he stop for directions, or go east for an hour or so just to tick off the ladies?

I decided that if they were Italian geese, it was a woman.

Then there are always the stragglers who are a couple places behind at the end of the wedge. Sometimes they make the V lop-sided.
Are they tired, or sick, or just kids who have to stop and pee?
Are they like the 40 year old cousin who still lives with Mom?
Do they all make it south or do some just get tired and die?

As they passed by, I turned and looked north again – there were two more V’s coming towards me. Now I understood why I was running late today. I needed to see those “honkers” doing what nature has told them to do, and remind myself that there is a purpose in nature for me too.

Running five minutes late really does not matter sometimes, does it?

Spring Forward! (Sunday March 9th at 2AM)

Scientists have determined that the V-shaped formation that geese use when migrating serves two important purposes:

First, it conserves their energy. Each bird flies slightly above the bird in front of him, resulting in a reduction of wind resistance. The birds take turns being in the front, falling back when they get tired. In this way, the geese can fly for a long time before they must stop for rest.

The second benefit to the V formation is that it is easy to keep track of every bird in the group.

Ref: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/geese.html