Dear and Special

I feel the pain of missing something dear and special. And I didn’t even know they were dear and special to me until, as it usually goes, they were gone! Well, I haven’t seen my doves for the last few weeks, the ones who had been visiting our courtyard everyday over the last few years.

I wrote how I came to feed the mourning dove family in my first blog post, Me and My Mourning Doves. It started with one dove hanging around in our courtyard. One became two, and then three. They were a couple and another male who, I suspect, was their grown-up chick. They showed up individually, or as a group of two or three at any moment of the day. When three of them showed up, the couple always chased the third one away. There were times when the couple brought one or two young ones with them. The young ones always disappeared eventually. I started to understand their cycle of life. The couple seemed to be raising their chicks every couple months.

They trusted me to a certain degree and I could observe them very closely through the closed doors. Even when the doors were open, as I painted palm trees in the courtyard, they would approach slowly if I talked to them calmly.

There were times when I felt they miraculously encouraged me. (See blog post: Someone Is Watching Over You)

I remember the last day I saw the female dove. She was sitting in the planter for a long time. She was walking very slowly. The following day I saw five doves land in the courtyard all at once. I was surprised since I had never seen more than four doves in the courtyard. They weren’t my doves. Since then a gang of four doves have shown up in the evenings. They are young with smaller bodies and molting feathers. They aren’t used to me and are quick to leave. I wonder if the two chicks created this gang.

Will I see my doves again? I do hope so.

As I see the empty courtyard I realize how they were dear and special to me and how they brought joy into my life.