Pair O' Normal Crows?

I'm not sure what I believe about the hereafter, or spirits, or reincarnation. There does seem to be a lot of stuff in my life I can't explain  - and let me tell you, my experience with the crows is the most unexplainable so far.

My mother recently passed away. She was ill for a long time with cancer, and although she was an amazingly tough cookie, in the end her body gave out.

I got to my parents' house about a week before she died. As part of the body shutting down process, my mom was saying loopy things from time to time. According to the hospice nurses, it's normal for people in the end stages to get confused and talk to people who aren't there. One morning, maybe it was the Wednesday before she died, my mom asked, "Have those people left yet?" My dad asked who? But she wasn't sure. Then were in the kitchen having breakfast.

Suddenly, I heard thumping noises above me. Like it was in the attic, or maybe on the roof. I thought to myself, "I didn't hear that" and continued slicing my strawberries. But I heard it again. I turned to my dad and asked if he heard it. He said he did. I said, "THAT's weird...." and he went outside to investigate.

He came back in and said it was odd, but there were crows pecking on the roof.  I asked him if there were normally crows around, and he said he hadn't seen them. We both said hmmm.

My mother spent her days in a rented hospital bed in the family room. Most of the day she slept. I brought my laptop into the room and did my work there so I could be with her. The room has large floor to ceiling windows, and looks out onto the patio and backyard.

Each afternoon, I noticed two crows up on the telephone pole...and what was odd was another crow walking around the patio. In fact one day, maybe Thursday or Friday, I actually got up out of my chair and went to stare at it out the window. It had walked right up to the window in the family room. I remember saying to it, "What are you doing here?"

I began to get curious, and Googled crows/death/symbolism and found all sorts of articles about the symbolism of crows. One post caught my eye in particular. It said some Native American cultures believe the crow comes to escort the spirit away.

On Sunday, my mother died. My dad and I held her hand until the end.

On Monday, I told my dad what I had read. I said, if the crows leave soon, I will become a spiritualist. He said, if they do, so will I.

We folded up the hospital bed my mother had used, and put it into another room out of the way until it could be picked up. The crows were still around - two on the telephone pole at times, but the single crow now had moved its position.

Instead of hanging around the family room window, it was now behind my parents' bedroom. Sometimes I could see it in the planter box, but often it would be behind the house, staring up at the room.

I had this feeling the crow would leave once the hospital bed was picked up. It was scheduled for Thursday.

Thursday morning I ran out to run an errand. When I drove back there were two crows on our driveway looking towards our house. I instinctively said, "Mo-om" in that two syllable way kids do, and the crows flew away.

The bed was picked up the end of that day, but I forgot to check for the crow in the backyard.

Late Friday I told my sister and father that I would do the "crow watch." I looked out into the backyard and saw a black shape by the planter. I walked out to investigate.

The crow was dead.

My dad got a shovel and I said I'd hold the bag. He scoop up the crow into the plastic bag. The very second that I was tying the bag closed, a crow flew directly over us and cawed loudly. When we got back in the house, my sister said "I heard the fly-by."

I have not seen crows in our backyard since.

I cannot explain it. If it's a coincidence, it's the weirdest coincidence I've ever experienced.

But I sort of like to think the one crow came to escort my mom's spirit. She wasn't ready to go immediately, but the crow said, when you're ready to go, I'll go with you.