My Cardinal

I am not sure how many people have heard about Sally's cardinal story, but I will give a brief summary. Soon after my dad passed away, Sally came home from running errands and found a cardinal inside her house. Sitting on her pillow on her bed. She had no idea how it got inside. But she sat there and chased it around trying to get it outside, and it flew into Luke's room and landed on the rocking chair. The rocking chair my dad bought Sally for Christmas years ago. She got goosebumps and ran and grabbed her camera, and she just knew it was my dad giving her a sign that everything was going to be okay. I think she even called the bird Daddy as she was ushering it out safely. She called and told me about it and said that she also looked up the meaning of cardinal and it said something to the effect that "in the gray times a cardinal is a sign of hope."

Anyway, I have had a few peculiar cardinal experiences of my own. One just happened last week. I walked out on the deck to feed Taco, and looked out on the yard and my thoughts turned to my dad. The sun was setting and there were no squirrels or birds and not a split second later a red cardinal landed on the fence. It didn't hop down to get any of the bird seed, but it just sat there for about 30 seconds and then flew away. My thoughts went from sad to peaceful. I texted Sally about it, and she felt the same thing I felt. It was Daddy telling us to smile.

I have yet to catch my cardinal on camera, so I am not sure if anyone has quite believed me about him. But today, Jay and I spent a couple of hours in the backyard raking leaves and hanging up additional bird feeders and such. And all of a sudden he appeared. Sitting once again on the fence. My dad helped us build our fence and deck, so I always think of him most when I am looking out on it or working in the yard. And this cardinal just sat there while we worked. The only bird brave enough to venture near all the noise we were making and Taco running around the yard.

I know it sounds ridiculous to some people, but my Aunt Penny told me that our dad would show himself to us in one way or another. And us girls think the cardinal is our sign.