Don't tell me how to do it until you've walked a mile in my sandals!

Today was a day I kind of hoped would never come. But, it is inevitable. A good friend of mine has said to me many times that there's only ONE thing in life we have to do and that's die. Well, another dear friend of mine is doing just that. Her name is Laura Quinn and she is the founder of the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center in Tavernier.

Allow me to tell you how I met Laura, the one woman who gave me a chance. In 1993 I had been laid off (every other week!) from my job as a computer graphic artist in Providence, Rhode Island. During the weeks I wasn't working I freelanced in Boston for a company that paid very well on an as needed basis. This allowed me a lot of unexpected free time. One afternoon I read an ad in the local paper for docents (education volunteers) at a small zoo in my neighborhood of Attleboro, MA. How cool! I wanted to "play" with animals in my spare time and the training was to start soon. So I signed up.

The program was what I considered long at the time! About three hours every Saturday morning for 6 or 8 weeks! But it was fun! Until one day when the Curator of Education at the zoo, Kevin, announced that today's class would be led by his good friend, Sue, who was an ornithologist. An ornithologist? Isn't that a "bird-hugger"? Good grief, how boring, was all I recall thinking. But Sue wasn't only an ornithologist (a scientist who studies birds, not a "bird-hugger"!) she was a "bird lover". And when someone is truly passionate about a subject it isn't long before they captivate their audience with tidbits and stories that suck you in! I remember learning that birds were different then other animals and that were "light for flight" (meaning they had a high metabolism and processed their food quickly). There body temperatures were even high -- 105 degrees Fahrenheit...something that would be deadly to a mammal. And there was so much more that sank in, but I just can't think of it all at the moment. By the end of class that day I was fascinating. Not to the extent that I was a new found bird lover, but I definitely started to consider birds as animals, something I hadn't really given any thought to previously!

Later at the zoo I met a lady named Jane. Jane was hired by the zoo to raise funds. Jane was a neat lady who shared many great stories with me and basically (pun intended folks!) took me under her wing! One day Jane mentioned she had a hawk in her basement. What? A hawk where? Why? Jane explained that she was a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. This was interesting as I had never heard of such a thing. Jane told me that she took in sick and injured wild animals and tended to them. When they were better she would simply release them. How cool, I thought! I want to do this. Jane gave me my first pair of baby starlings to raise. Not a particularly popular bird because they are considered an invasive species. As a matter of fact you don't even need a permit to raise them. Next Jane gave me a nest with three baby American robins. I'll never forget the one that wouldn't open his mouth and beg like his two siblings. I didn't want him to starve to death so I pried open his mouth and put food into it, forcing him to swallow. He was dead in the morning! Jane assured me that I didn't really kill him, some are just not meant to make it. And then there were the squirrels. A handful of baby squirrels that reminded me of Velcro. They were cute as buttons and I could walk around the house with them stuck to my winter sweaters like, what else, Velcro!

After a few months Jane could see my enthusiasm for wildlife rehabilitation wasn't going away and gave me a booklet published by the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council. This booklet listed all the wildlife centers in the country, and some overseas, that offered internships. A live-in opportunity, on a volunteer-basis, to be saturated in wildlife rehab. Most internships were for a minimum of six weeks, some for as long as six months. There was only one problem. It seemed like they ALL wanted intern candidates with animal experience. In other words, if you weren't studying to be a veterinarian or you weren't currently a veterinary technician, they were not interested in you applying to their internship program.

But, alas, there were just two facilities that didn't disqualify you for simply being interested in animals and wanting to help those that could not help themselves. One facility did it all. They rehabbed marine mammals, small mammals (ie. raccoons and opossums) and birds. They were in Washington State -- brrrrr! The other facility exclusively rehabbed birds. They were in some place called the Florida Keys. I had never heard of the "Florida Keys" so I dug out an atlas and looked them up. Boy, was I surprised! There were actually a chain of islands along the most southern tip of the state of Florida called....the Florida Keys! Who knew! Now, you've got to remember I was living outside of Boston when all of this happened. And it happened to be January and as I looked out the window it was beginning to snow...again! This would make the eighth snow storm to dump one foot of snow on us in a matter of weeks. Not likely a hard decision! Florida Keys, here I come!

I figured I could learn on birds and return to Massachusetts to tend to my dream animals...skunks and porcupines! I wrote a letter addressed to the contact in the booklet, a Ms. Laura Quinn, founder of a place near Key Largo called the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center. I was well aware that the other facilities in the booklet were hot for applicants with animal experience so I played up what little I had with gusto. In truth I had never seen an osprey, but, while visiting Cape Cod, I had looked into an empty nest with a friend. In the abandoned nest were, of all things, a shoe and a cloth doll! I added this tidbit to my letter telling Ms. Quinn that I was fascinated with this particular species. I was, even if I had never actually saw one! I thought the fact that a bird would put a shoe and a doll in its nest made it quite fascinating! I waited patiently for a response, thinking I was sure to be rejected. But then one day a return letter came. It said welcome! The letter gave me some details but mentioned I should call Ms. Quinn for the specifics. I did.

Ms. Quinn gave me more information on the phone and asked when I would be available to come down to the Keys. She told me that I could fly down and a man named Lloyd would pick me up at the airport if I wanted. She said that this Lloyd scared some of the girls because he drives around with a gun on the front seat of his pick up truck (FYI -- Lloyd Brown has been my best friend for over 16 years! As a matter of fact we visited Laura together today). Or I could drive myself. If I did this then I would be in Key Largo after driving through 18 miles of nothing (18 miles of nothing turned out to be the 18-mile Stretch and to this day I still think of Laura's description of it -- which, in my opinion, is hardly "nothing" -- every time I drive through it!). When I hung up I had sealed the deal! I was going to the Florida Keys for six weeks to learn wildlife rehabilitation from Laura Quinn in April of that year, 1994!

After driving from Massachusetts to Florida (I can't remember how long it took, but I do recall stopping for the night just outside of Miami) I arrived at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center in Tavernier...the fabulous Florida Keys! Unfortunately, when I got out of my car and walked in, the place was empty, not a soul in sight. As it turned out it was lunchtime. My first impression was that there was a sickly little kitten in a box on the desk. A kitten? At a bird center? Huh? The next thing I noticed were multiple copies of a single sign that were posted on almost every wall in the room. The sign said, "Don't tell me how to do it until you've walked a mile in my sandals!" All I could think was hmmmm.... someone's the boss! And then walked in Laura B. Quinn!

Well, that's enough for now! During the next few weeks (or days) Laura is slowly leaving this planet for a better place. I am blessed that this time I spent with her and Lloyd today was one of her "good days" and that she was eager to go to the shoreline to feed her beloved birds. Cancer is eating away at this wonderful 83 years old body and she had to be carried down the stairs and placed in a wheelchair, hooked up to oxygen. Even though she never quite smiled she said a word or two that made me think that she was indeed "with us today". Whether she recognized me or not, I don't know. I did tell her as I was leaving that I was about to "hatch" a baby, a "fledgling" of my own, and rubbed by seven month bump. And, more than anything, I'd told her that I hoped that she'd hang around just a few more weeks to meet it! That was the hardest part and I purposely didn't say good-bye, but rather I'd see her soon!