At first, I didn’t think much about it. Then it happened a second time, and a third time and a fourth. Now I’ve lost count and I think it’s trying to get my attention.

Yes, it sounds a little far out, a bit hippy dippy or something, but I think there is more to life than the concrete stuff that meets our eyes. There’s magic, and mystery and things beyond our limited sight.

That small voice that often whispers in my ear to pay attention, (maybe intuition is another name for it) led me to notice that something was happening again and again. It was a small thing, easy to ignore or write off as coincidence.

Oh, I didn’t say what “it” was did I. Well, it is a robin, a fat red-breasted bird that I think might be stalking me. For more than a week now, it shows up in the exact same spot every time I go to my yoga studio.

I get out of my car and there he is. I don’t know why I say he because I know nothing about robin gender, but I think it’s a he.

There he is hopping around beside my car. He doesn’t seem terribly impressed by my presence. He just keeps doing his thing occasionally casting a look in my direction.

The first day it happened, I thought how neat to see such a lovely bird. Then he was there over and over and over again. Just one lone robin seeming to put himself right in my line of sight.

I found myself remembering and humming that Red Red Robin song and I finally started talking to the bird.

“Good afternoon,” I said. “How are you today?”

My dog looked at me like I was crazy as he tried to figure out who I was talking to instead of him.

“You’re still here,” I said the next day.

“My you look lovely today,” I told him when he showed up again.

As I said, there is a bit of old hippy in this yoga teacher/writer. So I decided to explore what Native Americans and other cultures say it means to have a robin show up in your life.

One website said in mythology and legends a robin is a symbol of passion and honor and is a divine bird. It symbolizes renewal and rebirth.

Well, I certainly like the idea of a divine bird bringing renewal and rebirth stalking me. That’s cool.

Several websites say that robins are signs from a loved one who is no longer alive. They bring messages of love and are a reminder that though someone is gone from our sight, their love is always with us.

Immediately, I thought about my brother who died in September. Call me crazy, but I think maybe he sent me that robin. I was even more sure of it when I read the lyrics to that song that I kept humming in my head, one I’m pretty sure we sang together as kids in one of the many shows we put on for our parents.

 

“When the Red, Red Robin comes bob-bob bobbin’ along…

There’ll be no more sobbin’ when he starts throbbin’ his old sweet song…

Wake up, wake up you sleepy head

Get up, get up get out of bed

Cheer up, cheer up the sun is red

Live, love, laugh and be happy…”

 

Then my favorite verse and I heard my brother’s voice in the words.

 

“What if I were blue now I’m walking through,

Walking through the fields of flowers

Rain may glisten but I still listen for hours and hours

I’m just a kid again doing what I did again, singing a song

When the red, red robin comes bob, bob bobbin’ along…”

 

I like to think of my brother as a kid again, doing what we did again. And, if a stalking Red Robin helps me see him that way, I’ll choose to believe in some hippy-dippy magic.