It was a hard day walking in the streets of Montreal. The night before an ice-storm had descended upon the wintry city making it nearly impossible to walk the next day. That didn't stop us however. Following my mother's advice of "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." We donned our warmest clothes, parkas, boots,hats, mittens. All that was missing were toe picks.
As we slid down the street I was really beginning to reconsider our daily walk around the city. We came upon a beautiful old cathedral built in the 1800's. We decided to stop there for a little rest and re-grouping. As I was headed in, the kids stopped.
"Hey Mom, look at this." Mimi yelled.
Fascinated by the story, I was called over to meet a man who lives a daily memory. For years, this man would come with his young niece to feed the pigeons in the Cathedral court yard. As the years went by their loving tradition became a memory that would last a lifetime.
The niece became very ill and no matter what treatments they tried, nothing worked. 4 years ago his niece passed over. Every day in her honor, the man walks to the Cathedral to feed the birds. Always grateful for the time they spent together and for her short life on this planet. His story touched us so, that the children asked for a photo with the Birdman of Montreal.
So here we remember this kind man's niece. my personal blog, A Place Like This is a testament and living memory of the moments that my we spend together passing fleetingly through this world. What memories do you share? You know, the ones which will last a lifetime. I always say to my dear children, "Let your memories be your blessings." This life is short. May you make a million blessed memories.
Valarie Budayr is the founder of Audrey Press and author of the book The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden and soon to be released The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She is passionate about making kid’s books come alive and you can find her doing that on her popular blog and website, Jump into a Book. When she isn’t being bookie, she is very happily the mother of three uber creative children, married to a wonderfully patient man who has come to love yarn, and caretaker of one adored cat. Other creative interests are music, travel, knitting (a bonafide yarn harlot), and gardening. She loves living a daily creative practice, where even a good cup of coffee is art.
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