After their visit to the Grand Canyon, Silvia and Cosmo travel to Flagstaff, Arizona. Established in 1882 as a railroad stop, this charming city today has a population of just over 67,000 and is home to Northern Arizona University, Lowell Observatory, and several ski resorts. Nestled among mountains, Flagstaff’s quaint downtown is filled with cafés, souvenir shops, and eateries. The siblings head downtown for dinner before checking into a nearby hostel for the night.
The hostel immediately reminds Cosmo of his college dorm room, triggering memories of his brief time at college and stirring intense feelings of regret over dropping out. Lost in these thoughts, he is surprised when Silvia appears, pulling him out of his room to visit a café she claims serves the best coffee in the world.
Over coffee, Cosmo asks Silvia if she ever experiences regret.
“No,” she responds. Likely because she spends more time thinking about the future than dwelling on the past. She explains that people who focus on regret are trapped in their history. “Mom regrets a lot. Maybe you take after her. One time I heard her beating herself up for putting Vince in kindergarten too early. He was already in fourth grade, and he was doing great, but she thought for some reason he was in a class too advanced. And she just couldn’t let it go. I heard her talking to Dad, and he said, ‘You shouldn’t feel so bad. You didn’t kill anybody.’ I thought that was one of the craziest things I ever heard Dad say. But I think it helped her, because I never heard her mention it again. So maybe you should think like that too. Maybe you messed up, but you didn’t kill anybody.”
Her laughter is contagious, and Cosmo laughs too, finding himself finally able to let go of his regret over dropping out of college. Frank’s unconventional wisdom resonates: after all, he truly never killed anyone.
This moment—set against their journey from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff—is one of the book’s most memorable scenes and captures the essence of the story: a road trip of self-discovery, sibling bonds, and learning to let go of the past.
Excerpt from Discovery of an Eagle
They drove right to the South Rim as the park ranger who greeted them had instructed. The magnificent Canyon opened itself up to the sky, which was half deep blue, and half filled with clouds. The clouds hung around the mountains as if they were formed to each other. Light came through the cloudless spaces in thick, bright strips and turned the Canyon iridescent shades of pink, red, brown, and orange. Each time the light shifted the picture changed dramatically. Cosmo thought it wouldn’t amaze him, but he was wrong.
As he stood and stared out at the wonder, a bald eagle flew by him, only a few feet in front of where he stood. He couldn’t believe that the creature had flown so close to him. It landed on a ledge for a few seconds and then took off again, its wingspan reaching across nearly the whole of Cosmo’s field of vision. Silvia stood right beside him, watching the eagle as it flew over their heads. Neither spoke a word until it flew away and disappeared behind a cloud.
“Wow!” Silvia said. “An eagle. I love eagles!” She looked like she wanted to start jumping up and down.
“Yeah,” Cosmo said, still staring at the final trace of the majestic bird. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so close.”
“Don’t you want to know why I love them so much?” she said, disregarding her brother’s comment.
“Why?” Cosmo asked as if humoring his sister. “Because you’re such a patriot?” He laughed, knowing well that it wasn’t the correct answer.
She looked back at him snidely and said, “Because of what they mean.”
He didn’t say anything. He knew he didn’t have to. He knew his sister would tell him the answer without being prompted to do so.
“Strength, courage, immortality, spirit, divinity,” she said, gazing into the spectacular gorge below.
He knew about eagles symbolizing courage and strength, but not about immortality, spirit and divinity. The picture of the eagle was still fresh in his mind, gracefully sweeping over the earth, its wings spread like an angel. Divinity seemed to fit just right as something that this phantom bird should symbolize. It glides along with unearthly grace to remind everyone that our own journey can be as smooth or as rocky as we chose to make it. It appears, and then it disappears as if by some divine magician, and in its brief revelation, reminds us that we all have the potential to rise above.
This post is from my blog series on the places visited in the road trip story, “Discovery of an Eagle.”
Grace Mattioli is the author of the Greco Family Trilogy books, including Olive Branches Don’t Grow on Trees, Discovery of an Eagle, and The Bird that Sang in Color. These books are available from all major online book sellers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books.
