Does some sight or sound trigger memories of your family member?  When I see or hear the black-capped chickadees, I think of my mom, who had Alzheimer’s.  She enjoyed watching the birds and taught us about those around our farm when my siblings and I were children.

However, I especially remember the winter she lived with my husband and me, when she could no longer stay alone after my dad died.  Jim built a bird feeder which he attached to the railing of our deck.  Mother would sit in our living/dining room and watch the birds congregating around it.

She began to sing a song about the chickadees and mentioned that her grandmother sang it in those days long ago when Mother was a child.   So the chickadees bring back memories of that winter with Mother and the pleasure these little feathered friends brought her.