Savannah's Bird Girl Comes Home.

I fell in love with the city of Savannah when I read John Berendt's "Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil." Such a good, good book.... you felt as if you were walking around Savannah as you were reading.  The book was so good that I told my husband we needed to add Savannah to our must-see list of cities.

We've been to Savannah twice now since "Midnight...." was published, and my husband has also read the book.  The first time we went to that beautiful city years ago, I carried my copy of "Midnight" with me just in case we saw any of the book's characters (it's a true story, if you're not familiar with it).  Luck was with us that first trip to Savannah, and we did indeed meet Sonny Seiler, the trial lawyer in the story (Sonny also played the judge when Clint Eastwood made the movie based on "Midnight.")  I asked other interesting people in Savannah to sign my copy of "The Book" (as it's known in that city)... people who weren't famous, just famously interesting. They didn't seem surprised to have been asked to sign The Book, so I'm sure I wasn't the first visitor to make that request.

This past summer, we went back to Savannah... and once again I had "The Book" with me, and I read it again before our trip.  We didn't visit Mr. Seiler again..... and I never did get to see Minerva walking around the squares--- I'm sure we saw her during our first trip, but before we could follow her, she had disappeared into one of the stores.  Savannah would be my go-to place if we ever had to leave the state of Texas.  There's some sort of magic in that city..... it captures you as soon as you start walking in the squares.  And the magic stays with you, long after you've returned home. ("Just ask Minerva," as Sonny Seiler wrote in my copy of The Book.)

My husband came home today with a surprise in the trunk of his car....... a replica of Savannah's Bird Girl statue. The original statue was made for a family's grave-site in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah. After The Book became so famous (the statue was on the cover), scores of tourists and book-lovers were flocking to the cemetery to see and touch and photograph that statue.  So much so that the family decided to have the statue moved out of the cemetery..... there was that much traffic in and out of Bonaventure just because of that statue.  The original Bird Girl now stands quietly in Savannah's city museum.

I didn't know my husband had bought the Bird Girl today when he went out this morning..... and my eyes puddled up with tears when I saw her.  She's standing now out in the garden..... looking down the road, hopefully in the direction of Savannah, but I'm not sure.... and it doesn't really matter because where she is now is where she's going to stay because it's just the perfect place.  I can see the Bird Girl from the kitchen windows, from my sitting room windows, and (best of all) from the library windows. Life is good.

Life is full of surprises. Nice ones.  It may be time to read "Midnight In the Garden..." again.