A Summer Review (Cardinals Everywhere!)

 Well folks! Summer has come to an end and we are now within the beauty of Fall weather, but today I wanted to look back this past Summer and reflect on some things.

Mainly because, this past Summer, I was doing a lot of reflecting and trying to be more positive in my life and honestly, it hasn't been easy for me to be positive, especially in today's climate. But nonetheless, here we go everybody.

One of the biggest things I have been working on this past Summer was writing about my Aunt Jane who tragically passed away 40 years ago. I was extremely nervous about doing this because I wasn't sure how my family would react to it. And I was totally grateful for the kind words and encouragement from them as well as all of the help with photos and fun little stories about her. I am very proud with how it turned out and again, forever grateful to my family for helping me along the way. Rest In Peace Aunt Jane!

However, something else has been happening a lot this year that has me completely at a lost for words. And that is the amount of cardinal birds we have been seeing around our house. Now for the record, I have seen cardinals before at my house for years, but this year especially, they have been appearing more often.

Crazy thing is though, I wasn't the only one who noticed it. My entire family, like my father, my twin and even my mother all took notice to it with my dad saying that this was the most that he had ever seen before since we have lived here.

Now there have always been something about the cardinal bird that was always been comforting to me in many ways. So after getting to see so many of them, I wanted to do some research on it and see how I react to it.

Here is what I had found, the first being that they are visitors from Heaven. Many people believe that when you see a cardinal, it is either an angel in disguise or a loved one who had passed away is near by watching over you. This one is interesting to me because I was pretty close to my Nan and Pap and every time I see one, it makes me think of them. Also, it makes me wonder who else is watching over me. Fun fact, my Pap's favorite baseball team is the St. Louis Cardinals.

Another thing I had learned about Cardinals was about Hope and Endurance. It says that because cardinals do not migrate and stay active even through the harshest of winter weather, their bright red feathers against the snow represents things such as resilience, survival and hope during difficult times.  This one hits hard for me in a couple ways because for one, mentally I haven't been feeling the best. I have been struggling work wise and I feel ashamed of the fact that I am still living at home. Plus, physically, I'm having a tough time dealing with my scoliosis and cerebral palsy and with Winter coming up, I am not looking forward to it dealing with the cold weather and honestly, I feel like an embarrassment. But then, the hope part of it for some reason has me still going, I don't know why, it just does. I often wonder what good am I, but something about this is making me keep going even though I do not think things are changing around me no matter how hard I try.

The third thing was about how seeing a cardinal is a sign of Love and Romance. It says that cardinals mate for life and stay together year round, while the male feeds the female in a beak to beak gesture. Because of this, they symbolize loyalty, devotion and new or enduring romance. This one is weird for me as I have terrible luck with finding love, my last two relationships I ever had, both times I was cheated on by my exes. My confidence with women has been shattered and to make matters worse, it has affected my writing. If you have read some of my blog posts in the past or my poems and even in some of my short stories, you will see I had a lot of romantic/sexual, spiritual/religious in them. But for a while now, I have been struggling to write anything like that because of being hurt in the past, seeing where the world is now when it comes to dating, it is almost impossible. Plus, I don't think I will ever be good enough for any woman nor could I ever have the ability to make them happy. I feel like as though it is too late for me and here I am trying to write about romance and stuff and I feel like I'm being a lonely creep and love would never happen to someone like me so why bother writing about it you know what mean.

The fourth and final story about the cardinal during my research was about how cardinals represent Vitality and Energy. They say how the color red is tied to life force, passion and the fire of the spirit. I am not totally sure if I understand this one but here I go. The only thing I could think of when it comes to this was despite everything going on right now in my life, it is telling me to keep going, there is plenty out there whether I realize it or not. Like I had written earlier, something just keeps me going, something is getting me out of bed every morning and guiding through each day, even when I really don't want to do anything. Just something about this is giving me hope and the ability to keep going. I hope that makes sense to anyone who reads this.

There you have it everybody! That was my little Summer review and what seeing the cardinal bird means to me. Hope and pray you guys enjoy this!

Until Next Time!

God Bless and Be Safe Everybody! 🙏🙏🙏