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| Kathy fell in love with our Ruby's Daylily I & II |
I have a “Hummer” story to tell….my mother has always LOVED hummingbirds. She could sit and watch them feed and flit and fly and dive and swoop for hours on end, if time allowed. She had a huge trumpet vine beside her back deck that my stepdad had planted for her (he passed away in ’09) where she could sit and enjoy the birds. Well, Mom passed away on July 23, and my sister and I and our families were overcome with grief at losing someone who had meant the whole world to us, but as we planned her funeral, we tried as much as we could to make it a celebration of her life and the things that she loved. So we ordered a back panel for her coffin that had an embroidered hummingbird on it, and had hummingbirds etched onto her vault, and ordered a grave marker with a hummingbird on it. We knew she would have loved it.
Now, at my house, I always have hummingbirds. I keep feeders out and plant flowers that they like, but my daughter and my sister have never seen hummingbirds, except at Mom’s house. On the morning of the funeral, my daughter opened her front door to leave the house, and a hummingbird hovered at the door for a very long time, and even when she opened the door and went out, it lingered in the yard until she left. It has remained, even though previously there were no flowers or feeders anywhere nearby. (there are now feeders!)
A couple of hours later, as we arrived at the cemetery, the lady who assisted us with the graveside arrangements kept looking at me throughout the service like she REALLY needed to speak to me, and sure enough, as soon as the service was over, she came to me to tell me that just as we got out of our car at the cemetery, two hummingbirds flitted around in the tent, and remained there until we walked up. She said that as the service was going on, she could hear the birds nearby. They hadn’t flown away, they were just waiting…..and sure enough, as everyone left and I was the only one remaining at the graveside, the two birds returned and stayed with me a while, flitting all around.
I personally believe that this was our Lord trying to give us comfort that we needed. And while I have always enjoyed hummingbirds, they now have a new meaning for me.
Kathy Link (shared by permission)
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