KINDNESS

The Owl Man: He Spreads Joy All Around

These simple gifts are made with heart and hands

I was walking my granddaughter in the stroller down a quiet suburban street the other day when the Owl Man drove up. He pulled up in his Jeep right next to the sidewalk and leaned toward the open passenger door window. I heard him calling out to me and I looked to see if it was some kind of crazed killer but it was not.

It was an older gentleman holding out a carving. The chunk of wood had two owl faces carved into it.

“You’re the Owl Man!” I cried.

This amazing gentleman has been carving owls into pieces of wood and leaving them in places over about a 100-mile distance near where I live. Some are tiny, just an inch or so and others are a foot or bigger. This piece was about a foot tall and had two faces on it.

The man has developed a reputation for his craft. He’s making his way through myriad hiking trails and parks, to ocean beaches and lakefront greenspace. The list of places he has delivered his trademark is ever-growing.

I walked over to the car and leaned in to take the carving he offered me. “Is it free?” I asked.

He told me of course it was. And then I told him about all the people who had told me about the owls. About the children who were tickled to find a tiny one in the base of a tree, or hidden in the branches. Those walking the woods with their dogs who looked up to see an owl looking down at them. Some people took them home, others left them for someone else to find or to see on their journeys.

I asked him why he did it. He said it made him happy to see people smile. Or even to leave them behind knowing someone would find joy in their day by discovering one. He said he was eighty years old and it gave meaning to his life to make these creatures of wood with his heart and hands and then gift them to others.

Sometimes he would offer them to folks as he walked, other times he just purposefully left them as hidden treasure. What a gift to the universe!

I asked him the secret to his longevity and health and he said doing what he was doing. That and to keep on going. Movement he said would keep me young like him.

I thought about what he said as I walked away with my granddaughter, the owl safely stashed in the carrier at the bottom of the stroller. His obvious joy in giving away these creations. No real need for recognition. Sometimes he saw the smiles, sometimes he did not. But either way, it satisfied him just to know that he was leaving the world a little brighter.

His philosophy of life was a simple one: do things that give others joy and keep moving forward. Physically put one foot in front of another and mentally have goals that include filling your day with positivity. In his case with the owls.

I imagine his days are full. With woodworking, with choosing the next park to visit. Interacting with those like me who pass by and offer gratitude for his gift. He has a purpose in his days and life in his steps. The Owl Man has found the secret to joy in the commonplace, in the attainable, in an ordinary day.

He gave me more than one gift that day. A tangible one in the owl that now sits on my daughter’s shelf. And a reminder of the light and warmth that still exists in humans who we interact with and who make up our world. He gave my day an unexpected boost of happiness and I am reminded of it each time I think of him.

“Joy comes to us in moments — ordinary moments. We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary.” — Brene Brown