Rheta and Bob — A Visit From Home
Rheta and Bob
That first winter here in York, I was still getting my bearings. Everything about this place was new, and if I'm honest, it didn't feel like home yet — not the way Alabama did. I missed home something fierce.
And then a little female cardinal showed up on the deck like she owned the place.
The beautiful Rheta.
Now, my mama Rheta had passed just a short time before, and something about that bird stopped me in my tracks. Call it instinct, call it a mama's intuition working both ways — I looked at her and just knew. I named her Rheta before I even thought twice about it. Didn't feel like a choice. Felt like a hello.
My stepfather Bob had been gone longer, since 2001, so that grief had mellowed some over the years. But it wasn't long before a male cardinal started showing up right alongside her, thick as thieves. And when it clicked who he was, well — I about sat down right there on the deck. Bob and Rheta, together again, showing up on my railing like they'd never missed a beat.
The handsome Bob
Southern folklore's always said cardinals are visits from the ones we've lost, checking in on us. I don't need it proven — I saw it with my own eyes. Watching those two carry on together told me everything I needed to know that winter: Mama was just fine. Better than fine. She'd found her way right back to Bob, and the two of them had found their way to me.
Bob and Rheta have stuck around ever since, showing up on this deck like clockwork. And this year, they went and did something new — they built a nest and raised a whole family right here. Not just passing through anymore. They've put down roots, same as I'm trying to do.
Feels like more than coincidence to me. This garden started as my way of rebuilding after losing so much, and now here it is, still giving back — with a couple of cardinals who decided this was worth sticking around for.
Bob and Rheta are home here now. Turns out, so am I.
Please pardon the photography. I’m not a photographer but merely a gardener and wildlife watcher. I do my best.
Bloom & Dwell is a garden-forward outdoor living blog by Regina, written from her York, Pennsylvania garden with one eye always on Alabama.