Second Chances, Spiritually grounded with Swans as a Totem
The path to giving myself more love while having a love affair with Trumpeter Swans
The power of a dream can save many lives besides your own, this dream of mine to complete my memoir of how the Trumpeter Swans saved my life can be accomplished here on substack. I will begin transferring what I began on Patreon into this arena going forward, beginning with the last blog I wrote.
Don't Quit before the Miracle Happens
Update: RIP Harry Lumsden, 1923-2022 he passed away a month shy of his 99 birthday.
The man responsible for bringing back the Trumpeter Swans to their native homeland of Ontario in 1982. When I told him the swans saved my life he said, “Many people have told me that before.”
The last post was a tribute for Harry Lumsden. You see Harry had a dream, and in 1982 that dream began to take shape and over the years the dream has come true and Mr. Harry Lumsden has left a legacy in Ontario, which has even reached into the USA.
What is this dream, you may wonder? The return of the wild Trumpeter Swans to their Native Home of Ontario which had zero Swans for almost a century. It's just one of the best conservation success stories of a wild species.
I was lucky enough to have a few years with kindhearted people in a cruel world, and fill my soul with the a family of swans I loved with all my heart.
Photo Credit -Margarit Brigham, Feb 2019 LaSalle Park in Burlington Ont, one of the swans winter home.
It’s a sensitive read, and in the next article I send I will have a paid subscriber button to keep a bit more of my vulnerable moments in a more private community.
Survivors Miracle Message to; “Stay Alive”
Don’t leave us children. Stay Alive! You are here for a special reason, just as I am; it took me until I was in my 50’s to find out why! I am alive today to tell you my story because of Trumpeter Swans. My story has very traumatic parts to it and gifts of the heart, the best way to tell it is through the archetype of the “Ugly Duckling.” Which I see is mirrored collectively in 2020/2021.
The devastating stats of children leaving this planet or attempting to is heartbreaking, especially as young as 9 and 10 year olds. I knew it was necessary to be a voice for this difficult subject, and maybe a new story for our times, to not quit before the Miracle happens. It is hard enough for adults to cope when the storms of life come out of the blue. Many children don’t have the experience to know Miracles can happen in an instant. Life has something for each of us to receive and contribute .Your reason could be just around the corner, like it happened for me while in my deepest, darkest time of loss, sorrow, and suffering from separation of loved ones.
Do you know the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling"? It was written by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen in November, 11 1843.To sum it up, just like the ugly duckling who was led to within an inch of his life, he felt alone, cold, lonely, Frozen, harassed, chased, shot at, given up on, undernourished, and at the edge of life and death and not knowing what will come next.
The end of the fairy tale goes something like this, The ugly duckling, now having fully grown and matured, is unable to endure a life of solitude and hardship anymore and decides to throw himself at the flock of swans deciding that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness and misery. He is shocked when the swans welcome and accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he had been, not a duckling, but a swan all this time. The flock takes to the air, and the now beautiful swan spreads his gorgeous large wings and takes flight with the rest of his new family.
My tale involves Trumpeter Swans and a kind-hearted, gentle, and generous couple, named Jim and Norma Soul. See, my life was interrupted with a Health Crisis in 2018, which many people did not believe in. I was battling a lot of shame; I went for nature walks to local ponds that had a family of swans as a way to restore and heal my mind, body, spirit and later my soul from the kindness of strangers. How appropriate a Mr. and Mrs. Soul show up in my life. I lived in a small town, without a vehicle. Mr. & Mrs. Soul were local volunteer drivers, which led to me learning so much history about the majestic swans. They were so eager to pass on knowledge to me that I took that passion and started advocating for the Trumpeter’s, even while my life was in crisis.
As a result I have the honor of telling you the story and how it was love that saved me first in the form of swans, then with a small community, just like the way the swans were brought back to their native home of Ontario after being wiped out for a century from 1888 to 1982.I learned that Mr. and Mrs. Soul helped with repopulating the swans for 25 years in the Wellington area. I had mentioned to Jim and Norma that I was going to be writing a book about the swans. Then my life collapsed into the ugly duckling story, in my most suicidal months, I’m glad I did not give up or give in. I found out 3 months later that during my darkness hours, there was Mr. Soul working on my behalf. He was so willing to pass on his notes of raising swans with his wife for 25 years that he learned a new skill of using the computer to hand me 40 pages with short stories for the book I was writing of the Miracle Healing Swan Story. What if I ended my life? Who would he have given those stories that were meant for me? Just as he had many years of writing to choose from to hand me, I too have many years I’ve had to sort through to tell you. I broke through the biggest Lies that I was unlovable, that I was a swan all along. Did the ugly duckling know he was going to grow up to be one of the most graceful and beautiful of birds? Do you recognize we actually are swans too? Our sick society is in our face telling us that we are all ugly ducklings, not worthy to be alive or whether you live or die! I care, I fought tooth and nail for my survival, and for swans by my local ponds.
Ontario is part of a Heritage story of bringing the Trumpeter swans back. It began with one man Harry Lumsden, a retired biologist and it began with six eggs from Alaska.
Harry and I on Swan Family Day Feb 2019, LaSalle Park (we should have turned around and had all the swans behind us..silly me)
The outcome, who really saved me? The twists and turns became a series of sacred connections that mysteriously came into my life and gave me a new purpose. Like swan eggs, we can’t rush them to hatch, they serve purpose at all stages of life and at any given moment new life comes to bring joy to everyone, it’s that need for patience and perseverance in weathered storms - those eggs will hatch with the care of nature, with a bit of help from their parents at the start.
Hans Christian Andersen said the tale of the ugly duckling was his Autobiography he was an outcast all his life and his constant message was; to find your own kind.
This saying has helped me for the last four years, truth for me; “People come into your life for a reason, season or lifetime.”
My prayers and hope for humanity, is in mirroring the swans Return to the wild and our return to our endangered wild nature.
Miracles are true and can happen in an instant, I hope my story has inspired someone whether you are young or old? I wish to remind you, you are needed, you are loved by many sources besides humans. Hang on and believe a helping hand makes the world go round. There is more than enough if kindness is our currency.
Margarit Brigham’s writing on Patreon
Thanks I appreciate you making it through the whole story! Please share freely to help uplift someone if it touched you. There are short stories Mr. Soul gave me, they might be the first chapters I begin to share, some portions for public and extended chapters for paid readers.
Big Love,
Margarita
Hey thanks for sharing that interesting story and being vulnerable with some of your struggles and how the swans helped you. The children are important and they need to know that they are special. Keep up the good work!