I never thought that I would have a relationship with a goose.
Going to the duck pond, down to the pier, was something I did on a regular occasion.
There was this one particular goose who started gravitating towards people.
Some people call him Garfield, some people call him Buddy, I call him Lucas.
He's different from the other geese. He doesn't migrate.
He swims, he walks, hangs out at the pond.
If Lucas was a person...
He'd be outgoing, I mean, because he's willing to have relationships outside, you know, his clique.
I sat down one day and he just started walking around and then he crawled up into my lap.
And that was an amazing experience.
Him recognizing me in itself was I thought the neatest thing in the world.
One hot summer day, I decided to walk towards the water just to kind of get cool.
He swam up behind me and crawled up on my back.
And that, that was a huge surprise.
Our relationship continued to develop to the point to where I trusted he wasn't going to bite me,
and he trusted I wasn't going to hurt him.
I didn't entice him with food. It was more in terms of a true relationship where you identify with each other.
*goose honking*
Hey Luke, what do you see up there?
What do you see?
Lucy is Lucas' mate.
They're paired together most of the time.
Lucas is not my pet. However, in the event that he is hurt
on occasion I have intervened, taking him to a rehabilitation center.
It is truly, a very uplifting experience to bring him back to the park, his home,
and then see him reunite with his mate.
It's quite special to see the connection that the two of them share with each other.
She will position herself in between me and him as if it was time to end the get-together,
and I understand.
I've had a friendship with Lucas for approximately 8 years.
It's been quite the experience for me.
Having a connection with animals has always been very important to me.
I currently have 4 beta fish,
1 dog,
and 5 cats.
All of which I did not plan on but they seem to find themselves in my life,
very similar to what Lucas did as well.
My daily life is I'm a school teacher. An elementary school art teacher.
It's really made me feel like I've made a difference in their lives.
I'm very proud of that.
At this point in my life, events such as having been Teacher of the Year,
my possible retirement,
my mother passing away,
the fact that I'm almost 50 years old,
I question what kind of positive impact have I had on this Earth...
...to my friends and to my family and to myself.
I have struggled with what direction to go in.
Life is truly short.
My connection with Lucas has actually become therapeutic,
it's become very calming and grounding for me.
That relationship that I have with Lucas, or just being outside, or just listening to the wind blow,
is the closest that I've ever felt to God.
It's easy to get wrapped up in the daily, trivial type things of getting your grass cut, cleaning your kitchen.
Then, of course, there's the bigger issues of paying your bills and surviving.
He grounds me to what's real.
The lessons he's taught me, the lessons that a goose has taught me about
creating a connection with nature and with life,
and even how that transcends to my relationships with people.
There's a bigger world outside of us.