Last Summer my friend Cathy and I traveled to Newman, IL to attend a Memorial Service for Pam, a mutual friend of ours. It actually ended up being more of a Memorial Party, that looked a lot more like a Down Home Country Wedding Reception, complete with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and sweet corn, and as much beer and wine as you could drink. It was a beautiful evening when we left the Party, so Cathy and I decided to campout at a local campground. In the morning Cathy was up early, and out for a walk. I got up a short while later. When I went to my vehicle and opened the driver’s side door, a Cardinal landed outside the passenger side window and looked right at me…… and just sat there. “Hi Pam, nice Party,” I said and after that the Cardinal stayed for a bit, and then flew away. With that Cathy was back and said, “I saw Pam this morning. A Cardinal landed on your truck, so I said Hi Pam.” Pam, Cathy, and I met at a Spiritual Retreat at the Newman Center at Southern Illinois University, and I shared how the ,Cardinal became a messenger between family members. After that Pam and others adopted the Cardinal as a messenger between us as well. Pam would call me up at least once a year, to tell me she saw a Cardinal, and felt the connection. It’s 2017, and I thought a good time to share how it all started for me, forty years ago in May of 1977. I had just spent a couple of the coldest Winters in Southern Illinois history in a small 8X30 trailer on 80 acres outside of Cobden Illinois. After that I asked if I could move back into Carr Dorm, a small 4 bedroom house that Mom Carr rented to 4 boys. All the rooms were full, but Mom Carr said that I could clean out a room in the back and use that…. Which brings me to the day in May when it all started. I was sitting at my drawing board in my makeshift bedroom, trying to come up with a perfect Mother’s Day Gift…..Well, I think I’ll just share the letter and poem I wrote for my Mom that Mother’s Day…..
After that day my Mom and I, as well as other family members, and friends have related their Cardinal Experiences, letting us know at those times that we’re not alone.
ps. Now if we could only get a pair of Cardinals to fly over the Continental Divide, and into the West. Now THAT would be a Sign.