Sequence

When I was a child, I used to think that the sound made by doves was actually from owls. I remember how my parents told me that owls very pretty rare and you could be happy if you get to see or hear one, so every time I heard that noise I thought it was from an owl, and I thought it must be a pretty special occasion that I get the chance to hear one of them. That made me happy, because I liked owls. 

When I grew older, I eventually learned that those sounds were actually from doves and that special occasions are pretty rare in life.

Nevertheless, there were two times that I actually really saw an owl. One of them took place in the woods somewhere behind my house. I was on my way home from work in the middle of the summer, sweating on my bike, when I catched sight of a little owl sitting on a branch. I don't remember if it had made a sound or I just randomly saw it, but I felt lucky that a little special occasion happened to me that day, when nothing ever really happened.

The second time was in the forest as well, not behind my house, but on the other side of the world, in the Muir Woods in California. The trees were higher and the weather warmer and the air thicker, filled with the scent of earth and rain, when we walked up and down the paths and saw a little round owl sitting in one of the high trees. It was a California Spotted Owl , how we found out later, and we we're all so happy to see that little friend up in the trees looking down on us, well-hidden between the leaves.

Now, when I stand on the rainy platform at 2pm on a Friday, waiting for my train home, and hear the doves that are relentlessly walking up and down the roofs, making their own dove noises, I feel very small because I am old and far away from every owl I've ever seen.