One Wing died this weekend. He was the heart and soul of Bird TLC, the wild bird rehab center here in Anchorage. He came here from the Exxon Valdez oil spill with a grim diagnosis. He defied the odds and lived with us for almost twenty years. He was the kind of bald eagle that had all the dignity we would want to associate with out national bird, and quite a bit of the goofyness that we cannot escape as part of our national character. In my head, he is now soaring again, both wings in place as they should have been during his earthly sojourn, reaching for the heavens and finally touching them again.