Long story--so stop reading if you don't have the time, it is going to take a while to explain all this, as it goes back to Amy's life and death. Way back in 2010, after Amy stopped chemo but before she was too sick to live, she and I were hanging out in her apartment having just had lunch out. We were watching stupid daytime tv, some show about the paranormal and ghosts and stuff. In this episode, a woman was being kept up at night because her feet were feeling "wrong"--like they were under pressure or something like that. It turned out (if you believe this stuff), that her deceased husband was coming back each night and rubbing her feet. Apparently it was his way of telling her that he was okay and that he missed her. Whatever--it was creepy. Amy and I laughed and I made her swear that she wouldn't come back and haunt me like that. This started an interesting conversation in which her final question was, "Well? How am I supposed to make sure you know I'm okay?" I thought a minute and then remembered something I had read in a Dear Abby column called Pennies From Heaven. This is a collection of stories from readers who have found pennies with a year significant to them and/or their loved one in completely random places--places where they would later swear there was not a penny earlier. Anyway, I told Amy to leave me pennies. We sat down together and made a list of years that were important to the two of us; 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003.... We had about 6 or 8 years that were the most significant in our nearly 20 years of friendship. Fast forward to two days after Amy died. I was at a store buying something for her service and the woman in front of me was clearly in a hurry-the store clerk gave her some change and she moved too quickly and dropped it. Although she glanced at it, she was already on her way out of the store. I bent down to pick it up and hand it to her, but she was gone before I stood up. When I looked down there were three pennies. All three were on our list of significant years. Really. I did what any normal person would do--I brushed it off. Coincidence, obviously, and way too soon for Amy to be sending me "our signal." Three days later, I was out running, doing an out and back route on a low traffic, dirt road where running in the middle of the road is truly the safest option. On the way back, there, in the middle of the road was the shiniest penny you have ever seen. I'm quite sure I would have noticed it if it had been there on my way out. I picked it up--1992, the year we met. I stopped to catch my breath, but still thought it was simply a strange coincidence.
There were probably three more incidences like this one--pennies popping up at unexpected times. Finally, about 2 or 3 weeks after her death, our whole family went skiing because we simply needed to spend some time together after the significant toll Amy's final weeks had taken on us. This trip was made possible, in part, by some money Amy had left us. On the final ride up the chair lift, I was sitting with Megan, who would have been nearly 6 at the time. She was waving her mitten slowly back and forth, so I asked her what she was doing. "Oh, " she said, "I found a penny down by the lodge and I put it in my mitten." I looked at it. You guessed it, it was on the list.
I finally told one of our mutual college friends about all this and she laughed, clearly having believed in the pennies much earlier than me. She said, "If you don't start to open your mind to the message she is sending, she is going to resort to simply pelting you with pennies as you walk down the street!!" I gave in. I started believing, no, knowing that Amy is okay. I know this because when I was pregnant with Jordan, I had 4 ultrasounds and not once did I fail to find a penny either going in or coming out of the office. Not a single time.
Now back to the reason I'm telling you all this--my need to continue to feel my father's love around me. A few weekends ago, we were at a good friend's wedding. It was such a beautiful weekend that actually started off as a parent's nightmare. It was incredibly challenging to get there (the kids were tired of the car, Chris and I were tired of packing up and heading out, the driving is getting annoying, the kids fought and we yelled...)..But, we had promised the young, excited bride and her family we would be there, so we went, bad moods and all. We got there and it was at a beautiful YMCA camp that was deserted except for the wedding weekend people--there was a waterfront, tennis courts, a baseball field...basically my kids' version of heaven. We all began to relax a little. Of course we were late, so the girls and I quickly changed and went to the ceremony, while Chris played with and changed clothes on the little ones. We all went to the reception which started off what would become, simply, a really fun family weekend. Because the camp was empty, the kids were free to be kids, going back and forth between our cabin and the hall, or heading down to the waterfront to skip stones. I was having fun reconnecting with people I hadn't seen in years, and began to feel the stress of the very difficult past few weeks start to peel away. Then, while not paying attention at the reception, I found myself looking up to see the father/bride dance being announced. As I watched them take the floor arm in arm, I suddenly became overwhelmed, panicked, weepy. The weight of my father's death fell on me and I knew I couldn't stay in the hall. I stood up and calmly and (hopefully) casually, walked outside, heading to our cabin. I felt as if I was suffocating, but I knew the feeling would pass if I could just get to my family. I walked over to our cabin where the kids were playing and in various states of bathing suits, pjs, and baseball gear. Megan, who was wondering around the cabin, suddenly bends down and stands up again, "Hey mom! Look what I found!" She hands me a penny...1974 (the year I was born). And while I never sat down with my dad and made a list of years, I'm pretty sure that was an important one for the two of us.
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