Hello!

He hadn’t felt this free for a long time. He marveled at how buoyant he felt – how he was almost floating with each bouncy step. Looking up at the sky he thought how much bluer it looked today – and how white the fleecy clouds were. Wow! And those flowers almost jumped out at him; their color was so bright. He realized he was wearing a huge grin on his face. A jaunty whistle escaped his lips.

Jeff Guidry was elated... he’d gotten the best news possible - his cancer was gone!! His first thought was taking "his girl" out for a celebration walk on their favorite mountain trail. His girl just happens to be a bald eagle.

Jeff named her Freedom over 10 years ago... and he and she are soul mates. Funny, how taking care of someone or something creates an unbreakable bond.

Jeff was on duty as an animal rescuer when she’d arrived... and he stayed with her from the very beginning. Jeff cared for Freedom... He cared for her through surgery, through bandaging, through tube feeding, and through the "touch and go" of long nights when no one knew if Freedom could survive her injuries.

For weeks, all Freedom could do was lie down. She was too weak to stand. It broke Jeff’s heart to see her just lay there and look up at him and the other rescuers with her big brown wild eyes that were supposed to be soaring over mountaintops, sailing through trees, and calling out high pitched wails to other eagles.

Euthanasia looked to be the only answer... for she seemed to be in much pain and recovery eluded her. It was even planned for one fateful Friday. But when the Thursday before rolled around, tears and smiles of JOY slowly spread from person to person as Freedom greeted them all from a standing position.

Whatever had kept her from living had changed. She was now ready to live – even if it was as a different bird. Her injured wings were too mangled for her to ever fly again. From this precarious place of healing, Freedom became an agent of change. She visited schools to help educate children and even wound up on the news, in the papers and TV. Freedom was a chosen bird... just as she had chosen life, Jeff chose her to become his partner.

"I knew I had been given a new chance on life," thought Jeff as his oncologist told him his cancer could not be found. Those words are the words every cancer patient desperately wants to hear.

Because Freedom and Jeff were a team, Jeff dreamed about her at night while he slept. He dreamed she was helping him now. Freedom helped him fight his cancer in his dreams.

As Jeff went to get his girl ready for a grateful celebratory walk up the pine laced hill... she stood still and pierced his eyes with hers. Looking deep at Jeff, she then in one magical swoop engulfed him in her wings... with both her wings stretched around to his back. Somehow, his shining majestic winged partner understood that Jeff's cancer was no longer in his body. Freedom knew that Jeff too would live.

What an honor for Jeff to have such a relationship with Freedom.

You know, you and I probably won't get to hold an eagle, much less get hugged by one! But we can continue to live with our arms wide open, our hearts wide open and our minds wide open to the opportunities each day brings. Jeff believed Freedom could live and she did. Then she gave back to him at a time he most needed a celebration. I know there are stories of dogs who rescued humans, cats who alerted their owners to smoke, and horses that refused to carry their riders past unknown dangers. I want you to think today that everywhere you go there are forces in this world bigger than we can see that are helping us as we journey through this earth.

The story of Jeff and Freedom is one of devotion, companionship and trust. I hope you have those things in your life. If not, then today, take the beginning steps to cultivate them. Reach out to a neighbor, a classmate, or a team member... You just never know what wonderful flight you might create.

Sometimes to have a friend we have to be a friend first. Make the first move. Hang on when it would be easier to walk away. I hope today you are encouraged by Jeff and Freedom... they believed in each other... and I want to remind you that…

And I do, too!