Messages in Blue

Over the past few weeks I have been receiving all sorts of messages in different ways about blue butterflies. Both blue butterflies and blue birds have a great significance for me as they are both related to my Dad who passed away 5 years ago this past July. Blue birds were my Dad's favorite birds. Living in upstate New York they were one of the first signs that spring was almost here when they would arrive to reclaim their house from the previous year. Dad had built blue bird houses for all of us kids and for a few other folks that appreciated the birds.

Birds always seem to hold great enjoyment for all of our family. I remember growing up and my Mom having her Peterson's Guide to Birds book always laying out in the kitchen. Especially during the winter months together we watch as the birds would gather at the feeders we had in the back yard. We would check off each bird we could identify and then put the date down that we saw it. I think we gave up writing the dates for the Cardinals and Blue Jays as they were so plentiful. We actually marked off a lot of birds spotted over the years.

I love the birds and all that they represent, but now the blue bird holds even more of a meaning to me. That last spring that my Dad was so sick from the cancer that riddled his body he still made a point to go sit out on the back porch so he could watch the blue birds going back and forth building the nest in the special bird houses he had made just for them. It was a stuggle for him to move about and get settled but this was his love. He waited patiently over the next few weeks until you could hear the babies squawking and calling out for food. Eventually they would pop their little furry blue heads out of the small wooden hole in the bird house and cry for more worms which Mom and Dad would come flying back to the house with. After the last baby was pushed out and on it's way he would always be a little sad becasue it would be a whole other year before they came back to nest again. The blue birds hung around that year a little longer and I swear they did it for my Dad. With his passing in July my Mom had his beloved blue birds put on his head stone in color. I don't think there is a more fitting way to remember my Dad than with his blue birds.

This past month the messages that my Dad is still around abounds. I have received several messages from a friend of mine and also through people talking about blue birds, or receiving messages via emails that might have a blue bird picture with it, or just opening up a magazine and that is the first thing that pops out is the blue birds.

Blue bitterflies also hold a similar meaning for me but that is a story for the next writing. My girls are hauling me off to bed and tonight they want me to read hem a story. So it is off I go....

Happy Trails,
Sherry