Category No accidents

A Christmas Tree for TWINS!

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Life is amusing. I was at the Home Depot for a lightbulb. I enjoy seeing their Holiday decorations. I don’t have a Christmas tree this year. FEELING LAZY, but I do miss it. So, I decided to see what “small” trees they had. I like these quirky looking ones.

I looked at their TOP branch, to see which tree had the TALLEST and STRAIGHTEST branch. Some had crooked top branches. That was an immediate – NO GO! On further inspection, I noticed two tall branches next to each other. WHAT?? Were my eyes deceiving me? Was there an actual tree with two tall branches?

By golly there was!! I immediately thought of my TWIN brother. THIS was a PERFECT tree for TWINS. I looked to see if there were any shiny gold or silver stars around. No, but one tree had these red bulbs on it. So, for fun, I put the two red bulbs on MY TWIN TREE. To make my twin brother smile, I put his bulb a little higher than mine. AT FIRST, I admit, I had the bulbs side by side, which is how it SHOULD BE. Somehow though, from a design perspective, it looked goofy. So, I lowered one of the bulbs.

Laughing — NOW, if you look at the bulbs, they look like EYES. This is a TREE MONSTER coming after me. I sent the photo to my twin, he liked it!

As I kept looking around, I saw these fantastic colored cactus. Wow, I’m not a cactus person, but I do love the bright colors. They are amazing. I should have read how long they bloom.

How about a Cactus built into an ornament. Had not seen that before!

Oh, an older lady asked me what I was doing when I was taking photos. I showed her. She said she lives alone, no children, doesn’t care about Christmas anymore.

HOWEVER, a BIG HOWEVER, when I showed her the pictures I had taken, how I was moving trees/plants around to get my photos — THIS made her SMILE.

Suddenly, she was HAPPY! She said I opened her eyes, she had not SEEN the things I had seen as she walked by. She was going to take pictures to send to her nephews/nieces.

So — I feel like I was someone’s ANGEL!

It’s a good feeling! We CAN spread JOY this holiday!

Rhode Island — Signs from Heaven

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Sometimes we realize we have signs from Heaven! When I was in Rhode Island, I kept finding Lucky Pennies, then two quarters. I have not found lucky pennies in a long time. I found it strange to keep finding money like this in the oddest of places.

THEN I realized, signs from my cousin in Heaven. She died this summer of illness / COVID. What’s important here, is that she went to Rhode Island School of Design. Here I was in Rhode Island walking where she walked for four years. Once I realized this, my HEART grew so big. When I would find another coin, I would think, “OK, YES, I’m looking at your beautiful city.”

I always have this blue pouch in my purse with my Angel, so I kept adding the coins I found to the blue pouch.

Another strange thing happened. The day I was leaving, I found two lucky pennies in the airport. One was RIGH UNDER the seat where I was sitting. My cousin saying, “Good Bye.”

Stranger… the next day, I found out her father passed away while I was at the airport.

Life is interesting — signs, coincidences?

I don’t know, but I do feel a sense of comfort at this moment. Might be silly to some, but to me, it’s a loving sign!

Be open to signs that might come to you for whatever reason or purpose! They do come!

More GIFTS from Heaven…

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Last weekend, as I was driving, I saw a sign for a RUMMAGE SALE at a church. Why not, I thought, stop in and see what they might have. As you can envision, it was an auditorium FULL of junk. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, it’s just that on FIRST inspection it’s piles and piles of STUFF. You really have to “look” for those hidden gems. Luckily, they did have everything nicely organized.

I always like to look for small tea pots, so I went to the glassware/china section. Imagine my surprise when hidden in the back of the glasses, I saw these two ANGELS. They must be meant for Xmas, because you can put a candle in the back of them. After the past year and a half with COVID, world in turmoil, I SMILED and thought — I want those Angels for Xmas, price: $2.50 each. We need HOPE!

Another GREAT find, as I looked down was this pearl bracelet. I wasn’t interested in jewelry, but I do like pearls. As I looked at it, I realized it was REAL fresh water pearls, only $2. So, into my basket.

At this point, I was having fun! On to the china, they had different things, not much of interest for me, but I did see this cute little tea cup. It was so small, was it for espresso or maybe it was from a child’s tea set – you know, when they “pretend” to have tea. Anyhow, it was $1, into my basket.

And… we can never leave a Rummage Sale without looking at the books. I love looking through to see what they have. I found one really OLD book of The Hardy Boys. I did buy that, it’s from my childhood, but I thought you might like this book – The Spell Binder’s Gift by Og Mandino.

I had never heard of this author: Og Mandino, turns out he is an Italian. He flew planes in WWII with Jimmy Stewart, the actor. I flipped through the pages, it reads nicely, it’s about his life and miracles that happened. When I say miracles, it seems like he had fallen on sad times, when our life’s direction changes and not for the better.

While he was contemplating life for a year or so, suddenly miracles started happening or coincidences that started to show him his direction in life. I LIKED that. I had a period of my life where in 7 years, I was laid off 2 jobs. It was NOT a happy time. Like Mandino, I needed a SIGN, finally I found a good job, but it was not without heartache and turmoil. SAME happened for him, life circumstances helped him RE-INVENT himself. If we have FAITH / KEEP TRYING, miracles do come – not on our timing, but they come.

I SMILE — I was in a CHURCH, so it was fitting that I should find Angels and books on Miracles, RIGHT!

COVID has been TOUGH, continues to challenge us.

Little SIGNS like this, that warm our hearts, give us HOPE, remind us to BELIEVE in God and that GOOD THINGS will start happening. We need to see the SIGNS! Our direction and path will become clearer!

Have a wonderful weekend!

I had a LUCKY day!

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Yesterday was a strange day. I drove to the store to buy groceries. When I came out and started to drive, I noticed something weird flapping on my windshield on the right hand side. I drove a little bit, made sure I wasn’t being followed – nowadays, we have to be careful – got out of my car and saw it was one-dollar bill under my windshield wiper.

I immediately did what we do, went for my phone. Imagine, of all the days to leave my phone at home. I could not capture the BIG event!

It had been raining, so the one-dollar bill was wet. Seems to me, someone must have gotten out of their car, saw the one-dollar bill, rather than keep it, put it under my windshield wiper. WHAT other scenario could it be?

I didn’t know what to do with it. I mean, I could have kept it, but did not feel like it was truly mine. So, I decided to pay it forward. When I got out of my car, I walked by an apartment building and put the one-dollar bill in front of the door for THE NEXT PERSON TO FIND!

This felt like one of those TV shows where they have a hidden camera and they want to see what you would do in a situation. Well, that’s what I did.

Years ago, I was walking with two women to our cars after work. It was really windy outside. One of them kept complaining about work associates, it sounded terrible. I told her she needed to stop. I didn’t want to hear it. Just as I was saying that — a gust of wind, brought a $20 bill right at my feet.

WOW — I immediately grabbed it and showed the lady. See, if you say, “GOOD things,” you will be “REWARDED.” We ALL had a big laugh! Too bad it wasn’t a $100, but no complaints.

The SECOND thing that happened to me today was seeing a RAINBOW. My phone could not capture it’s beauty, but it was a HUGE rainbow, mostly hidden by the clouds. Unfortunately, it was the tail end, it was fading fast. I did my best to take a picture, hopefully, you can see it.

So – I’m still SMILING!

Every once in a while, we just FEEL that LUCK might be on our side!

Homeless Man – Great Sense of Humor

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The other night, I went to catch the train. A snow storm was on the way, so I was walking as fast as possible to get home before it hit. I was trekking along at a good pace and day dreaming, when I found myself behind a slow walking homeless man.

He was smoking a cigarette, that is what first caught my attention, and taking up the entire sidewalk. I admit, I was irritated by the smell of smoke and became doubly irritated when I was trying to pass him, but he was not allowing it.

Determined to keep my fast pace, as I tried to pass on his left, I politely said, “Excuse me, Sir.” As I said this, his left eye caught sight of me AND…

He cheerfully said, “A very Happy New Year to YOU!”

To which I replied, “And a Happy New Year to YOU too.”

He was so cheery, I had to smile at his greeting. At that point, we were walking side by side. I didn’t think it would be polite to speed past him. So, I kept pace with him.

He then said in a commanding tone of voice…

“This snow storm is coming, you know we ALL want to stay home tomorrow. I’m preparing my speech for my Boss when I call in sick in the morning.

I am going to tell him I can’t come in, because I have LEAKY BOOTS. Yes, my boots are leaking everywhere. There is so much water coming out of my “leaky boots” that it is impossible to come into work. My boots will be leaking and squeaking everywhere. I need to spend the day finding new boots.”

He caught me off guard with this funny story. I was laughing uncontrollably. LEAKY BOOTS, now that was a new one! I imagined his Manager thinking, “LEAKING BOOTS? Do I give him a free day or tell him to stuff his leaking boots with newspaper and get the heck into work!?”

He was thrilled that I found humor in his thought process. I truly could not stop laughing, a combination of his story, but the sound of his voice was so convincing that “leaky boots” were a major problem.

THEN, he laughed and said, “Creative writing classes come in handy.”

As a writer, his comment about “creative writing classes” made me laugh even harder. Of course, writers are always trying to be creative, and he sure hit the mark!

Parting ways at the train stop, I thanked him for giving me such a good belly laugh!

He smiled and said, “My pleasure, a good evening to you young lady.”

He got an additional 1000 brownie points for referring to me as a “young lady!”

Snail mail is still the BEST!

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My Year MugToday started out as an average snowy day. I got up, had my coffee and headed out. I went to the Post Office expecting bills and junk mail, but a surprise package awaited me.

Wow-wee, I even double checked to make sure it was my name on the package. Yep, it was me. I haven’t received a surprise package in years and I do mean YEARS! Clarification on “surprise” package. This is a package that comes unannounced. The sender does not tell you ahead of time to “expect” something.

I’m terrible! I get so excited if I send something to someone that it is hard for me to NOT give it away. I always want to be a secret sender, but it’s just not possible.

My ex/husband is German versus my Italian background. I was always amused by his restraint. When he received a package or letter, he would look at it and put it on the counter in a very precise type of manner and walk off. I would yell out, “Aren’t you going to open it??” No, it can wait until later. INCREDIBLE! When I received something I was ripping open the letter or package as I was reading WHO it was from!

I can say that is exactly what I did today! I was like a little kid, I was so excited about my surprise package. I started to rip it open until I read “FRAGILE” on the top, then I slowed down for fear of “breaking” the surprise!

The photo shows you my surprise gift! How special is that! The mug’s message with the card looking out onto the Lake, well, it was PERFECT! I really feel like a Princess today!

2018 –>  THIS WILL BE MY YEAR! 

(SMILING – The Universe has spoken!)

Has your Mom come back as a GHOST?

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img_1555.jpgHave you had someone close to you pass away and then at some point you felt their presence constantly next to you?

I read an interesting article yesterday about Sherman Alexie, author and filmmaker, who just published his memoir, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me.”

Right there, the title of the book tells us that this poor man wanted love from his mother, which she did not or could not offer him.

So, Sherman is on his book tour and he keeps seeing signs that his mother is haunting him.

It seems to me that her presence was so strong in his life when she was alive that even after her death, he feels he must do what his mother wants AND that is cancel the book tour.

I think, like most mothers, even if a mother is not perfect they want to go down in the history books as being “perfect.” I believe Sherman knows his mother would not have approved of this memoir, so it is his “subconscious” that is tormenting him. However, you should read his announcement to cancel his book tour here. There are some coincidences that make us “wonder” if his mother is indeed a GHOST.

I once felt I saw a ghost!  Well, not a ghost exactly, but do you see that Kudu? A few years ago my ex/father/n/law died. I was very close to him and was missing him. I was on a trip in Namibia and we were in a jeep touring the land in hopes of seeing various animals.

Suddenly, the driver STOPPED the jeep and in the middle of the road was this Kudu, exactly like the photo. The Guide handed me the binnoculars and told me this was a very old Kudu, I could tell by the horns, one was broken. As I looked into the eyes of the Kudu I FELT VERY STRONGLY that I was looking at my ex/father/n/law (Opa, we called him). I welled up with tears and said to myself, “Ah, Opa, you look good and you came to Africa to be FREE!” It was a special feeling.

A few days later, before we left the camp site, Opa appeared again. He ran in the middle of the road, stood and stared at us. Again, I felt the Kudu was letting me know my Opa was doing well, thinking of me and wished me a safe journey.

Was it a ghost? Who knows, for Sherman, I hope that as he grieves his ghostly mother “somehow” sends him a “sign” that she is PROUD of him! He needs closure!

Off to the library… I’d like to get the audio of this book. This way I can better understand WHY his mother is haunting him! Happy reading!

Inspiration: How can I soar with eagles when I am flying with buzzards?

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Eagle EyesI’ve always been fascinated by eagles. It started when my father got frustrated with his four kids for working too slow or not thinking fast enough on the building site. He would shake his head and say, “How can I soar with eagles, when I am flying with buzzards!”

I always chuckled in my mind when he said that. I would immediately envision those sad looking vultures toward the end of the animated movie, “The Jungle Book” and think, “What… vultures… I’m not a vulture!”

If you’ve never seen the animated Jungle Book movie, watch this clip on YouTube, uploaded by Thomas Ferrin, “vultures on jungle book.”  You’ll have a better understanding on why you wouldn’t want to be a vulture. They have no “joie de vivre!”

Like the photo of the vultures I have, that’s how they look… but it’s important for you to see how they talk and act. They have no energy, no purpose, no goals.

Vultures

Then I would think, “NO WAY, I am an eagle!”

This phrase has stayed with me all my life. It’s a tape recording in my mind for those times that I find myself challenged for whatever reason. When I need to draw strength, because I feel there is “no hope,” I remember those words and somehow I stand taller, I take the buzzard out of my mind and I focus on the photo of the eagle above. I draw from his “no nonsense” character, the “determination” in his eyes, and remember, “I do have goals!”

I AM STRONG!

I WILL SOAR!

My Dad will be PROUD!

 

 

 

Miracles… Lost items that are found.

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img_4152

Scarf when lost.

Guest Blogger:

Francesca Meffert / Ireland

Tuesday

My heels clicked against the pavement as I crossed the street already ¾ of my way home from campus when the first stab of panic hit, “Why don’t I feel my scarf around my neck?”

The wind howled, mocking my inattention.

Touching my neck, bare flesh greeted me and my stomach flopped as I realized the wind had surely snatched it in my scurry home.

I asked myself, “Do you want to go back for it?” “No, it wasn’t my favorite scarf and I rarely wore it anyways. Besides, if the wind took it who knows where it might be.”

I resumed my walk home, my feet scuffling a tad heavier.

Wednesday – Saturday

Cycling into campus I took the route I came the previous day and alas there was no scarf to be found.

The next day was the same….

And the next…..

and the next.

Sunday

I gazed out the window as the bus prattled its way closer to campus. That morning I had cycled into college; a fact I was struggling with at this moment when deciding whether to get off on campus to collect my bike or head home. Sighing, I did also want to stop by Church at some stage to light a candle, which, if I went for that option would entail having to walk back into campus for my bike. As the scenery passed by with increasing alacrity I found myself facing a decision among 3 options:

Option 1: stop at college, get bike, go home.

Option 2: stop off a bit later, go to Church, get bike, go home.

Option 3: go home.

(It is worth noting that the route via Option 1 or 3 would take me different paths to/from college and my house).

Going with Option 2

I pressed the button and got off the bus and began my walk to Church. This is a route I had taken the last four days. As I was about to cross the street, I looked down and saw a heap of wet, dirty, grimy cloth that had clearly been exposed to the elements for a good while. My heart felt a moment of sadness for the poor thing and all of a sudden I felt myself doing a double-take, wait a second, that’s MY scarf!!

I crouched down and delicately plucked the grimy scarf from the ground and placed it in my bag, arousing stares of intrigue and distain from drivers and passerby’s alike. Standing up, I was grinning from ear to ear like a fool. It wasn’t even the fact that I had my scarf back, it hadn’t been super important to me, it was “what finding it represented,” and I couldn’t help but think:

scarf-found
                                            Scarf when found.

What was once lost can always be found.

Perhaps that could be true of objects, but I felt this was a gift from the universe more symbolic in nature.

Often times, we find ourselves in predicaments or situations that are stressful, hard, or challenging in some manner or another – be it in our work, relationships, life decisions or more. It is in those moments that we must ignite the best in ourselves – be it motivation, love, passion, determination, patience, hope or whatever is required to see us through it. We all have the capacity to ignite these elements within ourselves, but it’s up to us to trigger them. Finding the scarf reminded me, that although it can be difficult to imagine, “what was once lost can always be found” and we can find it in ourselves to recall our best traits to see us through.

Had I chosen Option 1 or 3, I would surely not have found my scarf or remembered this important life lesson. As my friend reminded me, everything happens for a reason.

I hope that this scarf can serve as a lesson, that you too, can find whatever it is in your heart that you are searching for, it just takes faith!

Africa – A Zebra and a Lucky Penny

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zebra and penny2I read a book not long ago called, “There are No Accidents,” by Robert H. Hopcke.

The book was interesting, because we can all look back at our lives and remember situations where we met someone or were guided in a direction that felt like “it was meant to be.”

For years, I had been wondering if I would make it to Africa. It wasn’t my biggest desire to go there preferring to see Morocco, but still Africa lingered in my mind.

One day, I was out walking with my daughter in the neighborhood. We were sharing stories and suddenly in the middle of the side walk we saw this toy zebra.

We both stopped in surprise… How funny to see a zebra!?!

You see my father has been to Africa many times and we love the zebra, so I suddenly had that feeling of “you’re going to Africa, but I shook my head and thought — this is strange, no trip planned, why am I seeing this zebra?”

Another feeling came over us and that was a child who would be very sad when he/she got home and realized they had lost their zebra. We were on a busy street, no child in site. If we left the zebra someone else would take it, so we decided it was “meant to be” that it was passed on to us.

As we kept walking, suddenly there was a shiny penny in our path. Again, we BOTH looked at each other in surprise. I think you know, the penny is Lucky, because it says, “In God We Trust.”

I took a picture of the zebra and lucky penny and thought, “let’s see what happens.”

It must have been 18 months later when my Dad called and said, “Do you want to go to Namibia?”

What??  I had him repeat himself. I thought of my zebra and lucky penny and said, “YES, let’s go!”

I knew it had been pre-destined!

So, don’t pass up a “sign” no matter how odd it might seem… who knows where it will take you.