Blessed Birds - Stories By Nanette Crist ~ The Doves Descedants

Photographer: Nanette Crist

BLESSED BiRDS

• Stories by Nanette Crist ~ THE DOVEs DESCENDANTs

While I was working in the garden today

with my friends, Heidi Gibson looked up

and saw that only a few feet away

was an expectant mama serenely nestled

on her brood.
‎7 years ago when my twin soul crossed over...
I was in a deep state of grief...
when saw a mourning dove at my garden gate weeping
over the remains of her mate .

He had been caught by a hawk .

Only the feathers remained.

She was traumatized, waiting for him to return.‎

‎I told her I understood how she felt,
as I had gone through the same thing.

" Come little one you can't stay here !
The hawk will come back for you! "

At first she didn't listen...
but gradually I coaxed her with some seed
to the other side of the gate ... and closed it .

With some water she could remain nearby in a mournful vigil.‎

I spoke with her daily... only a few feet away
and messaged to her that he was not coming back...
so she needed to live her life.

They mate for life so that is not easy for a mourning dove.

We encouraged and healed each other.

Every year she would come back to visit alone.

This year a pair of doves came,
and unafraid nested in my garden.

I like to believe that it is her descendants.

~NANETTE CRIST