When I Look Up to My Life

May 6, 2026

I’m on my morning walk. It’s a particularly beautiful day. Few clouds are in the sky. As I stare into the depths of blue, memories that I’ve tried hard to ignore creep into my mind. I’m transported back to my time looking out at a different sky.

This sky is a pale blue with very little clouds. The light of the sun reflects into the river below it. Sailboats are docked at the pier. It’s a truly beautiful sight. I was so close, yet so far away from it from my vantage point on the third floor of the hospital’s inpatient psychiatric unit.

The three days I spent there were challenging, of course. I’ve blocked a lot of what I experienced out. I was scared and I’m going to take a guess that all the other people on the unit were too.

But, we’d sit out by that gigantic window and talk about who knows what, anything to pass the time. We’d look out at that sky and talk about our great view. I remember their faces, not their names. I wonder how they are doing.

My eyes are watering now. Oh how far I’ve come.

All of a sudden, I spot a bald eagle perched in a tree way up high. A symbol of strength. “This is no coincidence,” I think.

I now know that whenever I need some guidance, I can look up to the sky, to my life, and find it so close.