This is always a difficult month for Andy, so I have been replenishing his vase of roses to brighten the days just a little. He lost his mother around Thanksgiving, so the start of the holidays is more memorable as a rite of passage than a happy introduction to the holiday season. She is still with him though, in every visit from a cardinal, in every glance at one of her recipe cards.
The other morning I watched the wrinkled brown leaves and stems of the once-majestic cup plant sway slightly in what I thought was the wind. It was actually a trio of little cardinals – females, all slightly gray, and all with the distinguishing sharp cap of plumage atop their heads. They were small, probably from the recent season where a pair of them had set up camp somewhere nearby.
They are a comfort when you’re missing loved ones.
I can’t capture the cardinals for Andy, but I can replenish the roses.
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