My great-grandmother, Hattie Ward (known to most as "Mom"), was one of the most important people in my life. She passed away when I was in my freshman year of college. She was such a vivacious, amazing woman who has the craziest life story you'd ever hear! It is difficult to describe just how close I was to her all my life if you are unfamiliar with all this.
Anyway, when I was three (ish), her husband and my great-grandfather, PawPaw, passed away. For the rest of my life, she always told me that PawPaw said when he died, he was going to come back as a red bird to keep an eye on everything. She also, always told us that when she died, she too would come back as a red bird so we'd know she was always there and so she could be with PawPaw. Now I don't believe in reincarnation, and she was a Christian, but I do believe that God has infinite power and if he wanted to, he could send someone's spirit back as an animal. At the very least, I think God sends us reminders of the people we love.
After Mom passed away, I began seeing red birds everywhere, and always two of them together; a male and a female. The day I came home from the hospital with Ansleigh, I went and sat in the swing in our sunroom while Anthony brought all the stuff in and I saw a male and female red bird. Little things like this just make my heart smile.
Needless to say, my family collects red birds now. In fact, Ansleigh has two red birds of her own and they are two of her favorite toys!
All this background information to say, today on ebay, I won Ansleigh a smocked dress with redbirds on it. This dress means a lot to me even though when she wears it (size 12 months) it probably will be just another dress to her. Also, Mom's birthday is steadily approaching (May) and I've been thinking about her a lot lately and how much she would ADORE Ansleigh. I hope I can remember all the amazing, hilarious stories about Mom to share with Ansleigh as she grows up because I want Ansleigh to know Mom. It breaks my heart that she will never meet her.
Anyway, here is the dress:
Red Birds
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Posted by Carrie Friday at 9:11 AM
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1 comments:
This is such a sweet story. I was so close to my great-grandmother. Unfortunately she died when I was 7 and I wish everyday that I had gotten more time with her. I love the red birds!!!
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