Featherbeds, a Featherweight of Evidence and Light as a Feather

I was surprised to find in my 40's that I was allergic to feathers. Out went the down comforter and the featherbed and the feather pillows and my down jacket. I hung my dream catcher on the farthest wall from my desk chair. I also stopped using feathers in crafts with kids at work.

Things got better.

Strangely though, as a child I made these things. My grandmother would have me hold the ducks and stroke them gently so their feathers fell on the sheet i sat on in her yard. The ducks didn't seem to mind. I'd hold them under one arm and stroke them with the opposite hand.

We filled ticking to make featherbeds and pillows. We also fluffed up last season's beds and pillows because they would lose feathers over the year.

Now all that makes me cry.

When I worked the state psych hospital, I took an investigator job looking into patient complaints of abuse and neglect. The instructor that trained me encouraged me to look for that "featherweight" of evidence that would tip the scale from an unsubstantiated allegation to a substantiated one. I enjoyed writing up those reports. I did not enjoy the interviews with the accused or their friends, or the thoughts of feathers 

As for light as a feather...I believe that is a mindset. I remember it, and never cry about that one.

Photo: The Random Walk of My Mind and Photons of the Sun, Marie Monroe