My Freaky Fascination with Feathers and Where it All Started

                  For the first time in my life, I see a mesmerizing creature in front me. He is so elegant he swept me off my feet. He walks in front of me with such poise. He wears a coiling velvety crown on his head. But what captivates me more is the thing he is wearing – a thick coat of iridescent blue to vivid green feathers. And just as I stare at his shimmering coat, a fan of dazzling brown feathers with eye-like patterns on every end opens up behind him. I stare at him wide-eyed and filled with such awe.

                I become obsessed with this creature that he is all I think about every single day. I even imagine myself wearing the coat that he has.  I sketch some dresses made up of feathers and all. I’m so drawn into it.  Sketches of outfits made of feathers fill my good old journal. I even plan to have a black feathered dress for prom. I thought my fascination with feathers will stay as scribbles on my journal, but I was wrong.

One of my obssessions

                 One ordinary school day, I am walking alone in the middle of the school quadrangle when something catches my attention – a tiny brown feather with white tips fall in front of me. I try to catch it but the wind caused by the motion of my hand sends it to the other direction. Annoyed by its incidental flight, I wait for it to land on the ground and decide to pick it up. I stared at it with such admiration and wondered, “How can something become unnoticed despite its intricacy?” I take a closer look at it and notice its teeny-tiny details. I carefully run my index finger through the feather’s fine tips. I really am amazed on how the little follicles were arranged symmetrically in the stem of the feather and how the gaps between them are equal. It’s one of the world’s little miracles, I guess.

That was the first feather I collected. I decide to keep the feather in my little coin purse. Unfortunately, I lost it. It fell when I was getting my money from the purse. Pity.  But my little meet ups with falling feathers from the sky did not stop there. Time after time, I still go through the same scenario. I go somewhere then a little feather falls right in front of me. So far, I’ve collected seven feathers that accidentally just fell right in front of me. Others, I see them on the streets and I pick them up. Some of the feathers I collected were lost, though. They were so tiny and lightweight that they lose very easily.

                Fine, silky and soft to touch, fragile… fascinating – these are the words that come into my mind when I run my fingers through a pretty little feather.  Just because of a peacock and falling feathers, I developed my freaky fascination of collecting feathers. Sometimes, little things become the reason why you appreciate big things. You only need a keen eye to do it.