Last evening, around 7 p.m. as I was in my back yard tidying around, my husband came to the door of the house and said, "Kerry! Turn round and look!"

I turned to see a white dove sitting on the fence.

My son and his friend were in the backyard also, so we all cautiously approached the bird and, to our surprise, it didn't fly away.

Kevin, my husband, came out and reached out and picked it up. It seemed pretty tame and was happy enough to be carried in his hands. We brought the bird into the house as we have two cats that live outside, and have a nasty habit of catching birds. This bird seemed pretty docile, so we got it some bird seed and it immediately started eating right from our hands. It ate quite a lot.

Now, what were we going to do with this bird? We were afraid to let it go as my husband had noticed the bird in the first place because two blue jays were chasing something, and when he investigated, it proved to be this dove. We were therefore reluctant to let it go as it might get attacked by other birds or the cats, so I decided to go buy a cage for it.

I really didn't want this beautiful bird to have to live in a cage, of course, but until we found out what was the right thing to do, we are keeping it there. We let it out to fly around our house for a while but as we have two dogs that live indoors, we have to keep a sharp eye on everybody.

As an aside to this story, I will mention that the boy who was sleeping over at our house has lost his dad recently in a plane crash off Pelee Island. A group of men were pheasant hunting there for a few days and, as their plane took off, it crashed into Lake Erie.

To make matters worse, this was in January and it took weeks for the bodies to be retrieved from the bottom of the lake as the icy wind and snow storms prevented rescue.

While I was driving home from purchasing the bird cage, I was wondering if this was a sign, maybe a sign from Ian's dad, letting him know he was okay. I thought we should name the bird Larry after Ian's dad.

When I arrived home, it was clear to me that Ian - who is 13 years old - was thinking along the same lines, as he remarked, "That bird came here to see me, you know."

The boys had also decided while I was gone that it was a sign.

I said, "Well, Ian, if it is a sign from your dad, I must say that it is a good sign and your dad wants you to know he is okay.

Then my son said, "I want to call it Lawrence."

I was shocked by that choice and, after Ian had left, I asked him who had picked the name Lawrence.

He replied that he did.

Puzzled, I asked why.

He replied that he didn't know, but it was a cool name.

"Do you know that Lawrence is Ian's dad's name?"

He shook his head. "No, it's Larry.

I explained that Larry is a shortened form of Lawrence.

He had no idea. Is this a coincidence? Somehow, I don't think so. What do you think?

I hope this doesn't sound all jumbled and confusing, but it makes me feel privileged that this bird came into our yard, whether there is any meaning behind it or not.