'Has anyone seen the Colonel?!', says the right hand man.

Everyone looks around and nods their heads no. Wondering who they were waiting on in the first place before.

No one has ever actually met the Colonel, except for, of course, the one asking all the questions and ordering others to do certain things in their group. "Here he is now", says the man. The Colonel came flying in and just landed upon his crew saying, "Sorry about being late. Is there still enough time to get to the other side? I don't expect that we are expecting any bad weather on the way. Of course, let's not forget to watch for the planes, because those things are inevitable. I've already lost too many men trying to miss it. The propellers stopped them from getting anywhere. I see that you all have met my right hand here, Mr. Dubbs. Everything squared away, Dubbs?"

Mr. Dubbs replies, "Not just yet, sir. We have a small problem. We were all here waiting on you to leave, but, since you arrived fairly late, we have to wait until the big storm passes by in about an hour. It was only supposed to take us almost 3 hours to get to the new home land until next season. We are going to be almost 2 hours behind if we went now. Our stop time will now be 3 hours from now. If we wait about 2 hours, we will have enough time to find a shortcut to make it there earlier than 3 hours. I will keep looking."

The storm was beginning and not one single bird was able to understand exactly how they were supposed to be going around all storms and planes. One way or another, one of the birds was going to get their little lightbulb going on. No one knows about the whole thing making everything more difficult than it already is. Colonel Paul RaBird says to his crew, “What is the matter with you men? Don’t you remember that this is what you signed up for in the very beginning and got training for? Stop being chicks and start acting like cats that come to try and destroy us from this world! We are not just birds. We are men that will try to achieve our goals on this journey to the other side of this place. We need to survive for the ones that we came to survive and conquer our storms in life for in the first place. Now, are we chickies or are we cats?”

Everyone raised their arms in triumph and yelled out, ‘WE ARE CATS!’ They picked their heads up high, assumed the flight positions and ran off to their new adventure to make it right for their family and themselves. RaBird yells out, “Let’s fly out, men!” 

As the men and all of them set flight out into the soon to be dark sky, they come to a halt in their travels. 

“Do you all see what’s going on out there in the clouds?”, RaBird asks his crew. Everyone is shocked at the sight of all the lights coming out from the clouds straight ahead from their view. 

No one is prepared to get through those clouds wanting to make sure or know if they are going to make it out of there alive or not. They kept going forwards and they kept chanting out loud, ‘We are cats! We are cats! WE…….ARE……..CATS!!!!’ Not too much longer after, Mr. Dubbs calls out all names to make sure that everyone is present and they didn’t lose anyone because of fear. What kind of person is that? A coward. If they purposely signed up for that kind of adventure, they should have paid attention in class/basic training for bird population.  

It’s beginning to get dark out and all the nighttime sounds start to get louder and louder as they keep flying off into the strange clouds. Half of the crew were not sure how they are going to make it when the lights keep getting stronger by the minute. The look on their face tells it all. [You can’t always tell with the birds when you are looking at them. They can be smiling or they could be upset and frowning. We don’t know. The only people I believe would know are the ones that are bird watchers. So, all bird watchers, how exactly do you tell what emotion they are the time? Is it the actions that they make? Do they ignore you when they are upset? Do they eat their food happily when they are happy? What is it that makes them so unique?] Colonel RaBird allows them to have a break since they were nowhere close to those clouds yet. 

Mr. Dubbs goes ahead and takes another checklist to make sure that everyone is still there. Luckily for RaBird and Dubbs, everyone is still trucking along with them. They’ve been through this type of challenge before, where they had to go through the whole journey alone. They notice one bird that is having a hard time wanting to complete the task. The Colonel goes up to him and tells him, “What are you? A cat or a chickie? You can’t be both. You’re either off this team to have your own team. Or you are part of this team ready to conquer what not many were able to conquer before. It’s your choice, so you have to make a big decision on what you want to be in your life.” 

Everyone is taking their small water break and taking their snack break with it. Only to make sure that they are full and awakened to go to their next stop. Once they make it there, their families can finally join them. Maybe they will be able to find an easier way or easier time to make it to where they need to lead their families to. They finally get ready to go off through the cloudy storm and finish their way through to the other side. What does it mean to get where they are going? Well, since it’s going to be freezing cold where they stay now, they can finally find somewhere new to be warm until they are ready to go back to their main homes. 

Mr. Dubbs looks around and lets them know that it’s going to be a rough one, but it will be easy enough. RaBird tells everyone, “Just follow our leads and you will be okay. Don’t worry. As long as you stick with us, your lives will be just fine and you will be with your families still.” Everyone felt better after getting the confirmation that they wanted to know. Not everyone has the thought process as these majestical and precious birds do. 

New moment in this adventure happens. Everyone is in sync and tune with their leaders and they are making it happen all the way through. 

Where are they exactly? Are they close to the clouds? Are they figuring out a different route to their success? They are making something big happen for them. Great TEAMWORK!!

Alas, they face the cloudy storm, which happens to be a thundering storm. It began to start raining going through the lightning strikes and they got too wet to continue on with their mission. They were close enough to their stop, but, as always, there is that one bird that can’t make it the same time as others. The bird started slowing down and that made everyone else upset for having to constantly wait on that one bird. What no one realizes, that one bird saved them by going or being slower than them. 

“You may not be the number one on speed, but, let me tell you one thing. You saved us from being electrocuted or getting hit with one of the strikes that were going on. You have no idea how much we are appreciative to you for that. You kept us alive and I promise you that will never be unnoticed. Just be patient with me and I will always be patient with you”, spoke Colonel RaBird. 

[Do you ever feel that way? I surely do anytime I have to make it work somehow for my management in life or my family. We need to appreciate that no matter how slow another person may be, physically or mentally, patience is key for all and it will always be returned better than you or they have ever expected.] 

Everyone looked shocked, yet, realized that the Colonel was right. It put into their brains that they have to slow down alongside each other. They wouldn’t have made it through anything without the slow paced bird. He says to the Colonel, “Quick question, sir. How much longer is it until we finally get there?” RaBird replies, “It’s literally right behind the tall tree over there past the bridge. After that, we are set for until winter is done at home. We are going to be alright, gentlebirds. You are an amazing crew that I’m very happy to have led this far. Thank you for sticking around with us. You are the first team that I can say made me feel like we are a family of brothers.” 

All the birds have made it through all their stops, made it through ups and downs, made it through one of the biggest storm clouds they have witnessed and landed in their temporary home safely. They landed in their new tree nests and called out to their families letting them know they are good to start going. All the families met in the middle. No storms brewing to and from after that last one. They were the happiest flock to be around in the sky, well, that’s how they felt, at least. [Enjoy your days!]