The cardinal is West Virginia’s state bird. I love watching the flash of red when a male cardinal comes in to the feeders or flits among the branches of the shrubbery along the creek on the farm. There is nothing more beautiful than a radiance of cardinals resting amongst the red berries on a dogwood branch in the snow. The mama cardinal is a little duller color than her mate, but still shows a lovely dusty red.

The other day I showed you the Christmas ornament I found for the farm. It was a bottle brush tree under a glass cloche. It is special and will have a place of honor on my tree to remember my trip to Colorado. However, I went shopping Saturday afternoon and found THE perfect ornament for this year. Ne’Qua ornaments are so special and this is the first I’ve seen this year. There were only three left at the Hallmark store. On one side is a beautiful poinsettia and on the other…a pair of cardinals. I knew this one was mine. Someday my grandchildren will divide up these special ornaments but for now, I will cherish them, and the memories I make in the places where I buy them.

So, now I have two ornaments. It’s only fitting as my life seems to be at a crossroads of late. This way. That way. Old things. New things. Experiences. People. Out. In. It’s like a handful of glitter has been tossed up and I’m watching the dance as it floats through the air. Life is very rich right now. So rich I can feel it like the velvet tongue of a kitten. There’s beauty at every turn. Beauty in my memories of times past. Beauty in my everyday experiences. Beauty in my interactions with people. Even a poignant beauty in my love for Mr. Virgo.

I will never stop loving that man. He is a part of me as much as the marrow in my bones. But, he’s like the lovely red bird. He flits through my peripheral vision and lights on a branch for a moment…then off he goes again. He isn’t front and center every waking moment these days. While I had a terrible fear this day would come, I’m finding a release of the pent up tension that trying to hold onto him created. Now I can let him fly free….free to come in and out of my periphery, of my heart, of my life. And this is good.

This is as it should be.

In researching the meaning of the cardinal, I came across a lovely little blog called The Cardinal Experience. It is written by a young widow who sees a cardinal repeatedly after her husband died. He was a pilot and promised her he was going to fly to heaven on red wings. She thought he meant the red wings of his beloved plane. But maybe it was this little redbird that cried incessantly “Cheer! Cheer!” forcing her to leave her house and get back into life. You can read her blog post here:

http://www.thecardinalexperience.com/journey/index.php?page=pages&id=1

““Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:25-27‬ ‭NIV‬‬