I Wanted a Cardinal- but I Needed a Lesson by Pennie Hunt

I don't receive many messages from my mom. Maybe I have not paid attention and missed some in the last 5 years since she passed. This Christmas I was thinking of my mom a lot.

When I decorated my home for Christmas, I carefully hung ornaments on my tree that belonged to her. I used the tablecloths and napkins that she made for me, and her hand-sewn bells once again hung on my front door. Memories of her were everywhere. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed a message from her. A sign that she was with me. 
 
I have thought of her often as I have enjoyed the bird feeder my son gave me last year for Christmas. My mom loved birds and the color red, so cardinals were her favorite. 
 
Right after Thanksgiving, I made a deal with her. I would gaze out my window watching the sparrows and blue jays in my bird feeder and tell my mom out loud that I wanted to see a cardinal. (Yes, I talk to dead people.) I would tell her over and over, if she just sent me a cardinal I would believe it was a message from her and I would know she was around.  
 
For weeks I repeated this. For weeks I watched the bird feeder. For weeks, I saw the normal parade of sparrows, bluejays, finches, and even had a huge hawk visit my yard. But no cardinals.  It was a pretty high standard for a request since I had never seen a cardinal where I live. I didn't even know if cardinals visited my part of the country.
 
I guess that is why I wanted one so bad. It would be unusual. Out of the ordinary. Rare. To see a cardinal in my yard, it would have to be sent in a magical way. Then, I would believe it had most definitely been sent by my mom. 
 
Christmas came and went. No cardinals.
 
Two days after Christmas my daughter called to see if I wanted to do some after-Christmas clearance shopping with her and my grandsons. We went to a couple of stores and ended up going up and down the aisles of Hobby Lobby. My daughter and one grandson were in front of me as we walked through the colorful decorations. I looked behind me and didn't see my other grandson. Suddenly he came around the corner with something in his hand and said,
"Grandma I feel like you need this." 
 
He handed me a statue of a big, fat, red cardinal.
My mouth dropped open. I said, 
"Brady, where did you find that? What made you bring it to me? Why do you think I need that?" 
 
He said, 
"I don't know. I saw them on a high shelf, but this one was sitting lower and looking at me. I just felt like you needed it."
 
I hadn't shared with anyone my request for my mom to send me a cardinal as a sign from her. I had been down the same aisles as Brady and hadn't seen the cardinal, but when he took me back to where he found it, I realized I had walked right by them. The three on the high shelf all had a flaw or chip of some kind, but this one...the one looking right at Brady was perfect. 
"You are right, Brady. This one needs to come home with me."
 
I am sure my mom was proud of herself. She had probably laughed at my request and thought I was silly to think a cardinal would show up in my yard. She probably thought if I studied my bird facts, I would know cardinals are not in my area.  (I have since verified that to be true.) She was probably very pleased with the way she landed a fat, red cardinal in my hand in an unexpected way. 
 
I learn many lessons every year. This year the most important lesson came on one of the last days. The lesson of paying attention. The lesson of believing. And the lesson that not everything comes to us in the way we expect it to, but many times it is laid right in our hands in a magical way.
Thanks, Mom, for always being with me. 
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                     Pennie's Life Lesson: 
                              We learn lessons in magical, unexpected ways. 
                                    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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My mom and me. Notice the cardinal on her shirt and on her Christmas tree above our heads.

YOUR TURN...        
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