Dear Reader,
Thank you very much to everyone who sent in a memorable bird story this week. I wish I could have published them all in my column. Please do remember your bird story could very well be the beginnings of your entry for the Write a DearReader contest this fall.
Book club reader Martha H., who I think has been reading with me since the club began, shares her remarkable story today.
There are more stories and photos at this link.
My beloved husband Betts died three years ago, June 26. The morning of June 28, close to 6 a.m., I walked down our sidewalk to the street to get the morning newspaper. Walking back, a bird flew very, very, fast--zoomed--right past my head, so close that its wings brushed my right cheek. I was so startled--at first I thought, it's a bat because it was so fast. But it was larger than a bat and definitely feathered; I had felt the feathers on my cheek. It zoomed around the front door light three times and then off into a tree, where it landed and sang in an almost conversational way.
A bat? A bird? Betts! He had died after 11 days in the hospital and as he became more and more ill, and we realized he was not going to get well, we had asked him, if he could, to visit us or give us some sort of sign that he was fine. We also talked about what he was most looking forward to in heaven, and he had said flying and singing.
I hadn't been able to see what kind of bird it was, just its outline against the light--it was about the size of a large robin, or a jay. On New Year's Eve, having been with my local daughter who lives with her family about five minutes away, I had come in and went to the front door to turn off the porch light. It was about 5:30 p.m. and already dark. Through the glass in the front door I could see a big shadow zooming toward me--a bird--three times around the light and off. This time I could see the bird, though I had never seen one like it before. It was a solid color, orangey-brown. I've been talking to people and looking at bird books, trying to determine what kind of bird it is--we've narrowed it down to probably a thrush, though I haven't found a picture of a solid colored thrush yet. Two friends, one in NC and one in FL, said they have had birds like that in their yards.
I truly felt this was a message or messenger from Betts, keeping his promise with 48 hours of his death, and coming again with the new year, to let me know he's in touch. Such a blessing!
Now birds--of all kinds--have become really, really special to me!
-- Martha H.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
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