Owls can do hard things. And so can you.

Owls are built for hard things.
So are you.

Contrary to popular belief, my fifth grade teacher, Ms. DeZenzo didn’t have eyes on the back of her head. She’d stand at that chalkboard writing furiously. At 5’0”, she’d reach high above her head and work her way down the board, instructing with her back to the class. Somehow, she nabbed Josh Helmes for his paper airplanes and Erik Knight for picking his nose and wiping it on the seat of his chair. (names have been changed to protect the innocent) Was Josh right? Could she, after decades of teaching 10-year-olds, adapted and have grown eyes on the back of her head? Could she swivel her head all the way around?

Let’s pause for a second to consider 10-year old kids. My five-year-old just discovered that ‘fart’ doesn’t mean ‘to laugh a lot.’ And has been musically fruiting his new-found knowledge whenever he can. I can’t begin to imagine his gas skills with five more years of practice. Times 20 kids. Times 30 years.

Instead of letting the first paper airplane to hit her head deter her, she kept going. In spite of 10-year old snickering, Ms. Amy DeZenzo was brave. She learned. She adapted. She became a legend at Jennings School.

Everyone has their version of a paper airplane. There are the ones we see coming. Homework. Family gatherings. Doctors appointments. The Sadie Hawkins dance. My perennial nemeses, the rope climb and the mile run. The volleyball uniforms with the booty shorts.

Then there are the ones you don’t see coming. Like wearing your volleyball booty shorts, while doing a timed mile run in front of your track star crush … mortifying or character building?

Although at the time, it was mortifying. (my maiden name is Walker after all) But now, at 41, I think it may have been character building – preparing me for challenges I didn’t see coming like office politics, first dates, seasonal allergies, snow days in April, COVID, auto recalls, loss, winning the lottery, pink eye, family gatherings, doctors appointments.

We do all we can to keep our head on a swivel. We learn to adapt to the craziness. But with all the swiveling, I feel blind as an owl. Yup. An owl.

Let’s grab a think.

Owls were dealt a tough hand. They are cute for some. But part of what makes them cute (for some) is their really small head. A small head means there is less space for some essentials like eyes. Round eyes just won’t fit. Instead, they have tubular eyes, built like mini telescopes. While this makes them a blurry mess during the day, their night vision is amazing. Those tubular eyes function like binoculars and night vision goggles giving them phenomenal depth perception.

But tubular eyes can’t rotate from side to side. They are completely immobile.

That isn’t really sustainable. Especially when owls mean so many things to so many groups of people. In Greek mythology, they had to overcome childhood trauma to represent wisdom and prudence for the goddess Athena. For the Cherokee, they were omens of war. In Arabia, they have to embody evil spirits and carry away young children. They have to carry mail for the wizarding community. They have to feed their young, find a nest and hunt at night. They’ve got a lot going on.

Rarely, you see a disheveled owl. How they have time for this, I’ll never know, but think Harry Potter’s Hedwig, or Winnie the Pooh’s Owl. The Tootsie-Pop owl. Not a feather out of place. How is that possible with legs (fore limbs) underneath them and a beak akin to Tyrannosaurus arms?

Owls have adapted and can rotate their heads 270 degrees in either direction.

Seriously. They can move their head 270 degrees in both directions. What gives?

For starters, they give themselves extra space. Just like humans, the owl’s arteries move through hollow cavities in the vertebrae. But for an owl, the cavity is 10x bigger in diameter than the artery passing through it. This extra space creates multiple air pockets that cushion the artery during twisting motions. In short – they have wiggle room.

They also have a strong network. In their small heads, they have a number of small blood vessels connecting their carotid and vertebral arteries. Working together they keep blood moving as the owl’s neck contorts to see what’s behind them.

Then they have extra resources. One would think that twisting like that would hinder blood flow. Just like all the moms stockpiling Tylenol and LOL dollz, owls stockpile blood. The arteries at the base of an owl’s neck has space where reservoirs of blood are held, so as the head turns, the reservoirs are able to keep the blood flow rolling.

There are a slew of other reasons why this is possible. But it requires more complex science knowledge. And frankly this was a lot for me, as I’m terrified of birds. So I’ll leave it there.

The bottomline – we all have our own version of hunting at night. Our paper airplanes. To survive, we need space, grace, and support. After my layoff last summer, I knew I needed to be brave. To go through the anger, the fear, the ‘oh shit’ moments, the forgiveness for my boss, and the patience to figure out what the heck I want to do with my professional life.

My grandmother always said, ‘If you don’t change directions, you’ll end up where you always are.”

So it is time to adapt and give myself the space to try a few things out. I’m filling my cup and reaching out to my network for inspiration. To put on my big girl pants. Every day. Some days are easier than others, and that is okay.

I’ve always wanted to write and I’ve always wanted to thank Ms. DeZenzo for inspiring me. Who knew that doing so would require me to make the time to write this, to give myself the space to research owls (really facing my fear – if you don’t like birds, DO NOT click this link), and to have the confidence to reach out to my network (thanks sister!) to edit this.

If I learned anything from Ms. DeZenzo, we are built for the hard stuff. We all have our hard stuff. We are built to be brave. If we have space, the tools, the network –

I do believe that we can accomplish a lot.

Get tucked in, my friends.

Take some fresh sheets from the laundry and get tucked in. And maybe learn about some mangroves at the same time.

Read on

Sources:

Owls are built for hard things.So are you.