From The Other Side

Dad’s Little Bird

From as far back as I can remember my dad talked about his “little bird”. When one of us kids did something questionable and he’d ask us about it, he would always remind us of the source of his information as he patted his shirt pocket….” the little bird told me”.

As we grew older, my 4 siblings and I, my dad would still use the little bird tactic when ever he wanted to know something we’d rather not discuss with him. My children also knew the little bird well… often telling me in amazement how Grandpa knew everything because he had a little bird that kept him informed.

When my dad got up in years he really began to watch birds.. his favorites being the Red Cardinal and the Blue Jay. He’d scatter loaves of carefully divided bread and wait for the birds to come delight in the feast. I often recall him excitedly telling me “look…. look at that Cardinal!!”

Yesterday marked my dad’s birthday. He passed very suddenly of cancer 2 1/2 years ago, none-the-less, we continue to celebrate his special day. We throw a real gala event with cake and ice cream following one of his many favorite dinners, topped off with a special musical movie made of his life in photographs. At the end of the day, you couldn’t help but feel his delight.

Today is Tuesday…the day I always take my Mom for dinner. We did just that… and finished off the evening with a trip to the cemetery. While I rearranged the flowers over my dad and son’s graves, my Mother sat in the car teary eyed, silently asking my dad if he could please give us a sign of his well being. I took my Mom home and went home as well. When I arrived I approached my front door and was absolutely shocked …. it was 8pm, dark as pitch ( with the exception of the porch light) and there was a female Cardinal perched upon my front door! I looked at it in surprise to say the least… frozen in my step.. and watched in amazement as it cocked it’s head back and forth tweeting… and tweeting… as if taking to me.. looking me squarely in the eye!! I though…. my camera phone!! and I turned quickly to put my purse down and retrieve the camera… snap! I got it!! but as I blinked my eye… she was gone. I stood in this alcove in complete bewilderment… where did the bird go? Am I nuts? Nothing flew by me, over me.. around me… in a mere blink, the bird was gone.

When I got into the house, I was very anxious to connect the camera phone to the computer to see the photo. I hurriedly plugged the phone into the port and was again surprised when the phone itself displayed a photo of the grave I had taken back around Labor day… at least 30 photos ago. I wondered.. now WHY would THIS photo display? Technically, the most recent photo displays… I’m thinking….it’s a computer device… it doesn’t make decisions as to which photo to place on the screen. Now I’m thinking…hummmmm.

I download all the many photos …seems to take forever..but finally, there it is… the photo of the bird. Ok..phew…I’m not nuts! I begin to piece it all together… but I’m starting to wonder..was that a Cardinal? So I open the browser with intentions of searching for a photo of a female Cardinal, but my My Space displays, as it always does, so I decide to check it for messages first.. and what I see next completely stuns me! A photo of big red Cardinal sent as a comment from an online friend. Now I have over 2000 comments with photos… never before have I received a bird photo of any kind, much less a Cardinal! My question is answered.. yes it was a Cardinal… same head.. same body… but the one I saw was drab..and when I looked up the female Cardinal..there it was.. the exact same bird I had seen on my door!!

I have no doubt it was orchestrated by my Dad. He sent a message from the other side…..the sign my Mom asked for… by way of his little bird!!

P. S. There is a nice photo of my Dad on my mother’s shelf..and guess what’s perched right next to it? yup….. a statue of a Cardinal!