Pelicans “Just Visiting” Along the Mississippi River

Pelicans link my lives in two locations this morning.

Daniel and I see pelicans when we kayak on Clear Lake in Northern California. We paddle round the small peninsula, and there, they are! A cloud of squawking white swirling and settling on the water.

I see a blur of pelicans this morning, looking over my shoulder, as I drive on the River Road to church in Alton, Illinois. I slow down to see the sudden island of white as they rest on a sandbar in the middle of the Mississippi. Their awkward grace takes my breath away. And then, one opens its mouth. It’s big enough to hold a woman’s handbag for a jailbreak.