The Story of the Cardinal

Since my father's passing I've been wanting to write a blog post in honor of him, but I could never find the right words to describe just how wonderful of a father and person he was.  I don't think such words even exist.  but in honor of the holiday season, I did want to share the story of the Cardinal.

First, a little back story...

Anyone who knew my father knew that he was a huge Cardinal Mooney Football fan, actually, just a huge Cardinal Mooney fan.  The school was his alma mater and he loved everything about the school.  So much so that we're having the school's crest engraved on his monument stone.  And the school's mascot is...a cardinal.

On the day my father passed my mother, sister and I were with him.  We chose to stay the night at the Hospice House, and at 5:30 in the morning the nurse came in to give my father a breathing treatment.  The machine he turned on was loud, but it didn't bother me too much considering my father's snoring had kept me up most of the night anyway.  About 15 minutes later the nurse was back in turning the machine off, and I immediately knew something was wrong.  It was too quiet.  As I lifted my head off the cot, I watched the nurse walk over to my mom and tell her "my condolences".  I turned to look at my sister who asked if our father had passed, and all I could do was shake my head yes as the tears began to fall down my face.  As we were saying our last goodbyes, my mom mentioned something about hearing the birds outside, but I didn't think much of it at the moment.

A few hours later when we were back at our house, I laid down on the couch to rest a little before people started coming over.  At that moment my mom called for my sister and me to come over.  She was looking out the front window, and there on our front porch was the most beautiful red cardinal.  I knew it was my father's way of checking on us and letting us know he was OK. 

A close family friend, who's husband was good friends with my father and passed away a few years ago, told us "If you listen with your eyes, ears and heart open, Charlie will come to you".  

 and he does.