Day 8 - A Home

Day 8 - This morning as I was leaving for work I happened to notice this old bird house.  It is something that we hung probably fifteen or more years ago.  I always hoped to get a family of bluebirds in it and hung it like my mom had told me to make it more attractive to them.  We did have bluebirds make their home in it more than once over the years.  We have also had some sparrows, a robin or two and after the squirrels chewed the opening to be a little bigger we have had a number of different ones move in and out.

This morning I realized that I haven't noticed the bird house for a long time.  I walk past it and and drive past it every morning and every evening but haven't really even paid attention to it.  This morning as I look at it I wonder if a family will take up residence there, and if so which type of bird will it be.  I enjoy birds, another sign that I really am turning into my mom.  I have fed the birds for a number of years.  A few years ago I had flocks of finches.  I really enjoyed watching them but I haven't seen any around my feeders for the last couple of years.  Not sure why, maybe a neighboring cat made my feeders less attractive when I wasn't around.  Last year I had at least six or seven families of cardinals.  This year I only have one pair and they aren't around much.

As I look at that old bird house it makes me think of the old Funneman family farmhouse.  When it was built it was from what I have heard considered a mansion by some, but the years have taken such a toll on it.  The many stories I have been told about the get togethers and wedding receptions, not to mention the every Sunday meals there.  The family time with the aunts and uncles and grandparents that Todd's siblings and cousins have shared with me.  It was a simpler time, family was the most important thing back then.  A lot of Sunday afternoons the men of the family could be found sitting around the radio or TV rooting for the Cardinals.  Uncle Allie and Eddy were busy keeping the kids out of all the places around the farm that they didn't need to be.  Without growing up Funneman there are so many stories that I try to picture by using what I do know about the family.  I was lucky enough to meet but not lucky enough to really get to really know some of the family, like Uncle Allie, Jim, Bob, and Norbert.  I didn't even get the chance to meet some of the ones that I hear so many stories of, like Donnie, and Stevie, Eddy and Grandma and Grandpa Funneman.  I am so glad I got the chance to know Carol, Tom and Ralph, my father in law. There were days when he frustrated me (kinda like his son), but overall I loved that man (just like his son) and I would love to have more time with him.  Ralph's two living siblings are both really great people.  His Uncle Bill can build anything and if you want a story, he is the one to tell it.  He has lived through a lot and with a twinkle in his eye he will tell you all about it.  I could sit and listen for hours to his stories and really enjoy when he gets to laughing so hard that it is hard to him to finish.  I really hope that someone has the chance to record him telling the stories because there is no way anyone else could ever do them justice.  Then there is Aunt Mary Ann.  The first time I met her I was very intimidated by her, As I got to know her she has become one of my favorites.  I love her wit, her humor and her laugh.  I think she hands a lot of that on down to her kids because they are a fun bunch as well.  I always enjoy seeing Mary Ann and ribbing back and forth with her.

My family is small, so joining a family like the Funneman family can be a little overwhelming, but in a wonderful way.  As I looked at that birdhouse in my yard and thought about that Funneman family farm, I really hate seeing the shape they are both in.  Sometimes I wish things could go back to the Sunday dinners at the home place where  unless you had something really important after church it was something you just did.  I can picture Grandma Funneman frying chicken - a lot of it and the uncles talking about the price of gas and what the crops were gonna do and the kids getting into trouble for being in all the places they knew they weren't supposed to be.

Life is fast, family is something that I think we all sometimes take for granted.  I know I didn't really appreciate mom as much as I wish I had until that first time I picked up the phone to call her about something and realized that she wasn't going to answer.  Home, regardless if it is a mansion or an apartment, is a place that should be a place of safety and love.  Take the time to appreciate those that you value in your life because it is short guys, too short.

Have a wonderful Friday's Eve!