The Snowy Owl

It was a couple of years since my Mom had made her transition back Home. I walked into my local Hallmark store probably in search of another mushy birthday card for a friend when I found a collection of children's stuffed animals at the back of the store. A beautiful Snowy Owl sat majestically in the front of the other "stuffties." I picked him up and noticed how super soft and fluffy he was in my hands. Then I noticed a manufacturer's "gift tag" on the bird's left wing. As I gazed at the card, it read, "For you (heart) with a small red heart"  and had an illustrated drawing of a cute brown teddy bear with his arms outstretched in a "pre-embrace" fashion next to the inscription. "That's cute", I thought… then my eyes shifted downward to the bottom of the giftcard and my jaw DROPPED! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! It read…"Mary Meyer." That was my Mom's name verbatim, EXACT spelling! I was stunned! 

Well, of course I had to purchase my new owl friend so I brought him immediately up to the counter to present my cash. I walked out to my car, got in and opened the paper bag containing my newfound stuffed pal. I picked him up again and noticed he had what I now affectionately call "the butt tag" and it said in big BOLD RED letters… MARY MEYER! I knew without a doubt as tears fell down my face that this was indeed another gift from Mom! It was perfect!…from the "gift card" with the teddy bear drawing preparing to hug someone to  the "For you, love" As my Mom, being 100% Irish American had always affectionately called us kids "love!" You see, Mom always loved birds and was also a child at heart and liked stuffed animals as well! And again, I knew I was never alone and that my Mom was always near me! 

The Crow

It was December 27th, 1993  around 10:30AM as our entire family gathered around Mom's bedside in her sunny San Diego home. I was holding Mom's left hand with my right hand as we all watched her take her last gasps of air until she finally took one long breath and then  peace permeated the entire room. She was a merely 50 years young Mom, and I was a 27 years young daughter.  Mom had been struggling with Cancer for the past five years and she had finally decided it was time to go back Home. 

We had a memorial service at our local Catholic church followed by a traditional Irish wake with many many family and friends. A few days later I was sitting at the window seat of my plane preparing to take off and return to Michigan. There was a long stretch of 8 to 10 silver birds lined up for take off at the San Diego Airport that morning.  All of a sudden, out of the corner of my right eye there appeared a rather LARGE BLACK BIRD! He looked like a Crow and I noticed that he was hovering and trying to get my attention, it seemed. He kept turning his head and flapped his wings to stay within view of my window! "That's odd", I thought to myself. Then I started to think, here I am on a NOISY departure strip of an airport getting ready to take off with all these other noisy planes revving their engines and a BIRD decides to reveal himself to me! My left brain tried to justify and rationalize it all. It simply could not be done! Birds just don't fly up to airplane windows and HANG OUT! Birds don't like LOUD sounds!…Finally we were airborne, and I realized it was my Mom saying "I love you, I am still with you, and I am ok." I cried into my kleenex tears of both sadness and comfort with a deep knowing that I would never be alone.