I have a soft spot for owls. I got to work with two of them in vet school and I love their quiet nature even when they are mad. I always wished that I’d see some around here but I never have until recently.

Last Friday I was on my way to work at the clinic that I wanted to buy. I saw an owl (I think it was a Great Horned – it was big!) fly from a tree down to the ground on the side of a very busy road. Today I’ve been thinking about other possibilities in my professional life. Something just doesn’t seem right about buying the clinic I wanted. I keep getting the impression that I’m getting ripped off but I can’t put my finger on why or how. I went back and talked to some people that I had talked to earlier about other options today. Tonight I was walking out of the barn to go catch the horses and saw what I think is a barn owl circling over the property. It just kept gliding around the house and barn.

Two sightings in 10 days when I’ve never seen any before and on days when I’m trying to decide the direction of my life made me think about what owls symbolize. I found this:

Owls know when to move silently and when to be still, which makes them the keepers of secrets. These solitary birds don’t feel the need to proclaim their presence to anyone until the timing is right. Owl comes to us when we need to open our eyes, and study the situation at hand. If we watch and listen with our inner selves we can figure out what is happening behind the scenes, and confront those who are trying to deceive us at the appropriate time.

I’m not a big totem person but that is pretty cool. It got me to thinking that we only consider cool animals to be totems. I’ve having a raging battle with a possum in my barn. I looked him up to see if he was message but no one seems to want to claim the possum totem.