When I was here in this house for the two weeks I took care of Dad, I would sometimes here a loud clunk. I would run to where my Dad was because I always thought it sounded like he had fallen. He would usually ask for help when he needed to get up but on a good day, he would sometimes get out of his chair by himself. So the clunk, or I guess it was more of a bang, would always scare me. I would look in on Dad and he would be sitting quietly in his chair each time. I thought the house was breaking. It was a mystery. One day I was watching Jeopardy with him in his bedroom. I would sit on a bench in front of the window, with Dad sitting beside me in his chair. This is a picture of the window and bench after both Dad and Mom passed. Dad's recliner was where the black rocker is. Maggie and I were trying to be quiet in the early morning hours before driving back to Georgia. My sisters were in the other rooms sleeping. I ran around taking pictures because it would be the last time the house would be exactly how Mom and Dad had it. The next time we would be in the house would be for the estate sale. I will blog about that later.
Anyway, I was watching Jeopardy with Dad when the bang happened, and it was right behind me on the window. I jumped and looked out. There was a very large robin looking at me sitting in the tree that is very close to the window. It then started squawking.
There isn't a robin in the above picture. I was trying to show how close this tree is. The below picture may show it a little better. The branches were actually touching the house and window but Mike got the saw out.
When the robin was yelling at me, I told Dad about it. He wondered what kind of bird it was. I told him it was a robin and he couldn't believe it because of the size. It was very large. Dad said the bird had been banging on the window for several days. When I mentioned this to my friend, he suggested the bird saw his reflection and thought it was another bird he wanted to play with. That made sense.
But then I realized where ever my Dad was in the house, the bird would be at that window. If Dad was sitting in the front room where he liked to read the paper, the bird would bang on that window. If Dad was in his bedroom, the bird would be at that window. It was pretty amazing, and loud.
On that Easter Sunday morning when Dad died, my sisters heard that banging on the front room window. Mary walked in and told the bird that Dad was gone. We never saw it again.
We believe that bird was a messenger from Dad's friends and family that had already passed, to let Dad know it was okay to go. They were waiting for him.
A few days later when we were driving to the cemetery for Dad's burial, my sister Jo received a text from her daughter Meredith. Meredith had not heard the story about the robin and we were very surprised to hear Meredith's story. She had a dream the night before about a bird and was told to make a birdhouse for it. Meredith woke that morning and saw a morning dove on her partial balcony railing. She said birds never land or sit on that railing. She thought it was odd that she had that dream and then the bird showed up. We had to call her right away and tell her Dad's bird story. She couldn't believe it!
When Mom passed, the Hospice nurse and I were sitting on that bench in the bedroom as my sisters sat on the bed. It became dark outside as we waited for the funeral home guys to come. We were telling the nurse about Dad's bird when a bird started singing very loudly outside that same window. We all thought that was pretty cool and a little unusual for a bird to still be up and singing in the dark.
The morning after Mom passed, I was in the bedroom when I heard my sister Sherry whisper yell my name from the kitchen. I stopped to make sure I knew what I was hearing when she whisper yelled again. I went into the kitchen too late to see what she wanted me to see. Mary was sitting with Sherry when two Baltimore Orioles flew to the railing in front of the dining room window. The male stayed on the railing while the female flew to the window sill and started pecking on the glass. They flew away when I walked in. We decided it was Mom and Dad letting us know they were back together and everything was fine.
One last note about trees. For some reason, Mom loved to plant trees and bushes really close to the house. We have been cutting and trimming like crazy, the whole time with Mike shaking his head as to question why she would do such a thing.
I found this picture of Mike and my Dad digging holes where Mom wants the trees and bushes planted. My Mom wrote 1994 on the back.
