seeing cardinals, 7.16.23

years ago, erica told me when her dad passed that she started seeing cardinals everywhere. not only are cardinals the state bird of north carolina, but she said seeing one meant that someone from heaven was visiting you or trying to send you a message. i saw a cardinal or two after dono passed, but i haven’t seen any since. that is, until today. i went to let bagel out and i was talking to my mom. as we are conversing, i notice a red blur fly into my parent’s garden. it was strange because i had never seen one up here before, but sure enough, it was. thinking back on what erica told me back in 2019, i thought of dono. i stared at the bird for a minute or two as it pranced around the garden. thinking it would stay, i went upstairs to grab my phone to take a picture, but when i came back down, bagel was at the door and the cardinal was gone. as i let bagel in and went up to my room, my mind was on the cardinal and how nice it was to hear from dono again.

it’s hard to believe i saw a cardinal this morning in my parent’s garden, though some days it’s harder to believe dono’s no longer here with us.

-ratha, 11:06am, 7.16.23