KYLE'S FEATHERS

Every week or so I would drive through Bay view Cemetery in Bellingham and visit Kyle’s Memorial Bench. On one sunny warm August afternoon in 2022 I drove by on my way home from work and wanted to sit on his bench and just be at peace in silence with my son.  When I pulled up I leaped out of my car to notice an unusually long grey feather resting in the center of his black bench. I picked it up and sat down wondering what bird it could come from because it was so large, at least 14” in length. I figured someone walking by must have placed it there for him and I appreciated the thoughtful kind gesture. After telling Kyle the highlights of my week I placed the feather back on the center of the bench and drove home not really giving it much more thought. In fact I do not recall even mentioning to my wife Cindy. The next day I had to swing into Lowes hardware store to pick something up for work. I parked in the middle of the parking lot away from most of the cars and thought I would take advantage of the few extra steps in the warm sunshine. As I stepped out of my work car I naturally looked down to the ground where I was about to step, and to my surprise there was another long 14” grey feather, uniquely similar to the one I just saw the day before at Kyle’s bench. At first I thought maybe it had somehow stuck to the car and traveled here with me. What are the odds of seeing two larger than normal feathers two days in a row that I have never seen before? I simply thought what a coincidence – there must be some large naked bird out there flying around losing its feathers. I smiled and chuckled about that thought as I entered the store. By the time I came out of the store I forgot all about it as I was on a work phone call stepping back into my car. 

That evening, I casually mentioned the two feathers to Cindy at dinner and we both just shrugged it off to something weird, not giving it the attention it deserved. A couple of days later I took Friday afternoon off from work to go Sea Kayaking with my buddy Mark. We launched from a beach on Fidalgo island and was crossing Guemes Channel on our way for a weekend camping trip on Cypress Head Island. Once we got out of the boat traffic lanes, we slowed down to rest and paused a bit to chit chat in the middle of the beautiful San Juan Islands. We had only stopped for a few minutes when I just gulped a big breath of air as right between us in the middle of the ocean a large 14” grey feather floated by. I was speechless and in shock. I quickly changed our conversation and shared my recent experience with Mark that all began at Kyle’s Bench with an identical large grey feather on a few days before. We were both convinced that this was a message from Kyle. It warmed my heart that he would and could make such an effort to get my attention in this physical world I thought he was no longer a part of. My spirit was just glowing and soaring for the rest of that weekend. When I got home and told Cindy, she said that was definitely Kyle and after researching a few sources we learned and confirmed that feathers are a typical sign of our loved ones reaching out to us.  After that I would tell the story of Kyle’s 3 feathers to anyone who would listen, always emphasizing how oddly long each feather was. I still tell this story several times per year gleaming with pride that my son Kyle IS still alive in heaven communicating to us from the spirit world. 

Feathers continued……..A few years later, I was working at my work office desk on cold winter Friday afternoon in February of 2025 when I dropped a pen under my desk that required me getting on my hands and knees and crawling under the desk to retrieve it. As I reached for my pen, right next to it was the tiniest perfect little grey feather, the size of my pinky finger nail.

I have never seen a feather so perfectly small. I think it was Kyle toying with me again as I had just recently told the 3 “Super Long” feathers story to someone the week before and Kyle would think it would be funny to send me another sign , but the extreme opposite using the tiniest little feather. I did not have the fore thought to keep the first 3 long feathers, just leaving them in nature, but that miniature feather is still on my desk and I often stare at it on wonder because I do not have anything in my office that could have feathers in it, that it could have come from; especially that small and so perfect. 

Thank you Kyle – I love you too. Dad.

MAP TO KYLE'S BENCH

Feather in the grass, in line with Konrad at the Memorial Race "Be The Change For Kyle 2023".

- Photo taken by Heidi Powell