I went nearly my whole life without ever seeing an eagle up close. Oddly enough, in the recent weeks, I have seen two Eagles. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's rewind back to a few years earlier.
The day we laid my maternal grandfather, Colonel Jonah Xu/ Nhia Xou Yang, to rest, it was a wet and gloomy day. I remember an eagle was circling overhead and someone made a comment in passing that the eagle was grandpa. No one thought about it again. Then, on the day we laid to rest my great grandfather, my grandfather Yang's step father, it was noted that an eagle also circled overhead.
Once, maybe it's coincidence. Twice? I have always been a big believer that people's energy/spirit lives on and is always with and around us. That they will manifest themselves in physical ways to let us know they are with us and watching over us. I believe the eagle was my grandfather's spirit. Since those times, I haven't seen or thought about eagles again until these past two weeks.
On Thursday, October 10, I was dreading driving all the way up to Duluth for an event. I was suppose to speak about my bill to eliminate child marriages but I didn't really understand the context I was speaking about it in. I had a hard time finding the location because of construction and I was super tired from getting very little sleep. All of which did not make for a pleasant day.
When I arrived, I learned that I would be speaking on a panel. One of the panelist was Mike Peeblera, Director of the short Evie. A story about forced child marriage. This was Evie's debut screening. Director Peeblera and the other panelists were amazing and the audience was engaged throughout the session. They had genuine interest in my bill and the political will for this type of change. I spent a bit of time afterwards speaking with the Director and completed a short interview for PBS.
I left that space feeling like this work matters. I had to drive long distance and I was tired but the trip was worth it. On my home, driving down I35E, an enormous eagle flew down right in front of my car and carried away prey. I couldn't help but feel like it was my grandfather validating that my work matters and that no time or energy is wasted on important work.
Then on Friday, October 25, I traveled down to Rochester to present with Lisa Archer, Director of the the birth center at United Hospital, on advocacy at the Minnesota Breastfeeding Coalition conference. Again, being a new legislator and having a new Legislative Aide, we did not know to ask all the questions needed in order to decide if I even have the right credentials to speak. I mean I breastfeed two kiddos but I wasn't sure I was the right person to be sharing with professionals of this topic on how to do advocate for issues they deal with everyday. I was dreading attending because I didn't want to let anyone down.
On my drive to Rochester, as I was traveling on Highway 52, another giant eagle swooped down right in front of my vehicle to scoop up prey off the side of the road.
I made my way to the conference and like Duluth, this event surprised me. The feedback from conference goers was that the presentation was the perfect mix of stories that really resonated with them and factual knowledge that they could use to advocate for others. One person stated that in all the years she had been coming, this was the first time she had ever heard women of color present and share their stories. The presentation was so touching she had to fight back tears. I gave her a big hug.
With both incidents, I was traveling at 70 miles per hour and yet the eagles came right across my path. I saw them with great clarity. I can't help but believe that it was my grandfather validating for me that I need to keep doing this work. That it's hard but I gain as much doing it as I make an impact on others.
Because I believe in signs, I believe my grandfather is still with me and guiding me in my work and on my journey.
