Grandpa's Wishes

I do believe in God, and I do believe in what comes after this life. I believe that there is such thing as heaven- a place where we go when we die and we can look down and enjoy our family and be with the loved ones who have gone before us. I find myself believing that those who have gone before us have a way of showing their presence to those who are still living.

When my great-grandmother passed away in 1998, I was away at college. After hearing that she had passed away, I needed to go run some errands before leaving town. Each time I got in my car, this one song (My Heart Will Go On, by Celine Dion) would play. If I changed the station- it would be the next song playing. I believe that Grandma Fannie had something to do with that.

Fast forward to 2001. My grandmother loved cardinals. She had cardinal everything. They were really her favorite bird. Since she passed away in June 2001, cardinals have been popping up everywhere. When things are stressful- I'll see a cardinal. They don't have to be real cardinals- it can be anything from the actual bird to a wooden cut out, a pin, earrings, whatever. This is one reason why I keep a cardinal on my Christmas tree- the other reason is to remember her. The most recent cardinal spotting was Saturday, June 11, 2005. I was downtown, at the farmer's market, where they were having an Arts and Antiques fair. The first thing that caught my eye was a thermometer... with a wooden cardinal cut out on it. While looking at it, I felt... at peace and happy, and knew that everything would be ok. An hour later, I learned that my grandfather had passed away.

For the past few weeks, my father has been going through the interview process at Caterpillar. He found out last Friday that he made it through all three rounds- the only applicant to do so. The only thing that he had to do was wait for an offer. Yesterday afternoon, he received that offer. It was much nicer than he expected- more money and better benefits than he expected. My grandfather has taken care of my mother- he has helped her when things were tight, and he's made sure that she will have a beautiful place to live out the rest of her life. I truly believe that he had something to do with my father getting this job- even just a little, tiny push in the right direction.

My husband has been in a selling slump at work lately. He's been distracted and stressed out- not selling like we all know that he can do. Yesterday- he had his best day in the last few weeks. Again- I believe that my grandfather gave him a nudge in the right direction.

And today- I received an email to lift my spirits. One of my layouts is going to be published in Simple Scrapbook's A Simple Guide To Digital Scrapbooking 4. Not life changing- but still big to me. The layout that they chose is not only mine, but it also includes papers from one of my kits. This will hopefully give my sales a push- they're being published! Not only will my name be in print, but so will my kit!

I wonder now what other nudges Grandpa will be giving in the upcoming years.