Mom

My mom was afraid of birds because she was attacked by a chicken as a kid, but she LOVED watching them at a distance in her yard. When the mean blackbirds would bully the smaller birds she and my dad would go out and chase them away. She had a bird feeder and watched out for the smaller birds. She especially loved the doves.

Mom would have loved my backyard. I get to stand at my kitchen window every day and watch a variety of birds pulling worms from the ground, pecking in the grass, and gathering twigs for nests. And we have doves. I can't afford to feed the birds, but I have neighbors who keep them well-fed.

When my kids were much younger and I was homeschooling them, My mom went on a lot of field trips with us; two stand out in my mind because they involved birds. The first was a trip to Sea World in San Diego, CA. We were sitting at a table with a mesh umbrella over it eating lunch. Bekah was still very young and in a stroller; Dave was about 6 or 7 years old. All of a sudden a seagull pooped over the umbrella and it was like a shower through the mesh right on my mom! After the initial shock and a makeshift bath with baby wipes (I carried them everywhere!) we laughed till we nearly wet our pants! But my mom never liked seagulls after that!

The second field trip was to the San Diego Zoo. As the kids inspected every inch of the zoo,we went through an enclosed aviary. It never occurred to me that my mom was afraid and she never said a word, but as we left she was visibly shaken. I asked her why and she reminded me of her fear of birds, but she went through the aviary for the kids. She was the BEST Grandma her 9 grandchildren could have EVER wished for!

The ache of missing her has lessened over the years a little, but the depth of missing her gets stronger as the tears go by. On April 28th it will be four years since she took that last breath with me, Annette, and our dad at her side. I love you, Mom!