No parent should ever have to bury a child. Your children should never go before you do, but it happens. It is part of the cycle of life…

Courage takes on many forms. The most courageous couple I think I've ever met in my life is my wife's mother and father, Rita and Paul Thiel. I have watched them bury two of her children and a grandson. Life is so unfair.

In 1995, they laid their daughter Julie to rest after battling cancer for a year and a half. On November 24, her 46-year old son, Kurt John Thiel, succumbed to an apparent heart attack. Her grandson, Mark Sudol, lost his life in his first week on this earth because of a heart problem. Now, all that is left is a broken heart for those that loved and admired Kurt John Thiel.

Christmas is a tough time of the year for many of us. I lost my dad over the Christmas holidays in 1997. I used to like this time of the year. Now it represents only pain to me.

Kurt Thiel was a loner, but was not lonely. Like his sister, Julie, Kurt never married, but his loss is still felt by his remaining six brothers and sisters, one of which is my wife Christine.

Kurt was passionate about two things in his life- his profession of being a mechanic and his avocation of being a bird owner and bird lover.

The value of a garden is greater for being full of birds than full of fruit, as the old saying goes. Kurt saw his life as a garden of fruit for his beloved birds, and they rewarded him with their enchanting songs.

Kurt's birds were musicians in the air and they spoke a language that Kurt understood, giving him unconditional love, which he returned with a passion.

Rose Kennedy once said, "I have always believed that God never gives a cross to bear larger than we can carry. No matter what, God wants us to be happy, not sad. Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn't we?"

Indeed, why shouldn't we delight in the memory of those who have passed. Death is a part of the cycle of life. Our presence on this earth is but a mere speck on the backdrop of time.

Kurt would and did often deny himself of needed food and medicine to give care to God's tiny, feathered creatures that he loved so dearly. His birds sang to Kurt, not because they had an answer to the many health challenges he faced in his short life, but because they had a song of gratitude in their hearts for the love he gave them.

In his own way Kurt was a "bird minister" who devoted himself to the needs of his beautiful feathered creatures.

Have you ever seen an unhappy bird? Did you ever see a bird that had the blues? One reason birds are not unhappy is they are not worried about impressing other birds, said the late Dale Carnegie. I suspect Kurt was much the same way. He made no efforts to impress others. He was simply Kurt.

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. Kurt used the wings of his tiny, feathered friends to soar to happiness.

One cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren. Kurt knew his shortcomings in life and was completely satisfied with his station. Langston Hughes once observed: "Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that can not fly."

Emily Dickinson once wrote: "I hope you love birds too. It's economical. It saves going to heaven."

Those of us who have had to say goodbye to loved-ones at this time of the year should seek solace in the fact the Kurt Thiel's of the world died doing what they loved. Kurt was actually feeding his birds when he took his last breath.

Would that you and I could be so fortunate to be doing something we loved when we take our last breath?