One for the birds...

The other day while Jacob was sitting in the parlor where he keeps his wife's ashes, a goldfinch appeared at the window. This goldfinch alledgedly proceeded to frantically bump its body against the window, seemingly desperate to get inside, and continued to move from window to window showing no signs of discouragement. Jacob opened a window, left the parlor, and upon returning a few hours later, discovered that the bird was still inside. So, he let it out. Let "her" out. Yes, that's right, he thinks this spunky little goldfinch could have been his dead wife's spirit.

Whether merely allegorical or a sincere attempt to consider the possibility of man-to-bird reincarnation, I blame it on the remains. Where these three factors are in play: namely a griever, a bird, and the remains of a cherished person, there will be some sort of poetic interpretation.

When my fiance's father passed away last October, a woodpecker appeared, pecking furiously at a support beam on our house, just as David was removing his father's ashes from the truck. David's father was an amateur radio operator and Morse Code expert. We lovingly marveled at this event, but to actually believe that David's father's spirit had relocated into the form of a long-billed arboreal bird would have been a stone thrown at the scientific method, which for us Godless wanderers is the closest thing we have to a deity.

Is this sort of romanticization of death practical? Does it help us move on or does it hinder our ability to heal? Does it offer a misleading or idealistic view of death? Is is important to have a realistic view of death anyway? How does how we view death factor into the healing process? These are questions I am not prepared to answer today, but I am tempted to say that anything that stands in the way of actual truth, bad or good, isn't healthy. What do you think? (you, who do not exist!)

In other news, Jacob's daughter's wedding is tomorrow. There is nothing that can be done. He simply will not attend. The last thing I said to him about it was that I was terribly disappointed about the decision he had come to, and that I had thought that attending the wedding would be a good first step to reclaiming his life.

Reclaiming it from what, you ask?

...from that damn bird.