Saying Hello

Before we went down to the beach, I asked Jay what day did he think my dad would have come over that weekend. Definitely Saturday. The day of the crawfish boil. Well through a few signs, my dad let us know that he was there with us. When we got home all of us started showering up. Lyle had set up his Ipod and had it blasting over the backyard. So when I wad done getting cleaned up I walked outside and the song playing was Eric Clapton's "You Look Wonderful Tonight." The song I danced to with my dad on my wedding. I listened to it and felt a little sadness. But soon everyone started trickling out of the house and into the backyard. Most of were sitting in chairs when all of a sudden Jay shouted and said "Look!" Sitting in a tree was a cardinal...chirping away. Everyone can attest that there was not one other bird to be seen. Well, we sat there and took some photos and then over the speakers played Willie Nelson's "Poncho and Leftie." A song that reminds all of us girl of our trips down to the beach. My parents LOVED this song. And then the cardinal took off from the tree and swooped low over our heads and was gone. Sometime later, Jay was walking around with his running number still pinned to his shirt, and Janie realized that the number...1944...was the year my dad was born. Jay had been waiting for one of us to realize it. Out of 10,600 plus runners, Jay ended up with that number. Anyway, I felt my dad with us while we were all sitting out there, and it made me feel so happy.

(My camera has a weak zoom ability so you can just barely make out the cardinal in the tree. Sally got a much better photo with her professional equipment.)