Dear
God,
Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.
--Children's Letters to God
Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.
--Children's Letters to God
When I saw this quotation
I knew a blog about gifts in unexpected places was asking to be shared!
On Sunday, John (my
husband) and I were going to go off-island for a bike ride. Most days we are
content to ride on on Pine Island, visiting Eagles’ nests, seeing Falcons,
Vultures, Hawks, Osprey, Woodstorks, Egrets, Ibis, Pelicans, Herons, and various
other of the nature available on any given day. But we needed groceries, so it
was worth putting the bike rack on the van, loading the bikes, and driving the
14 miles. I had planned to ride Veterans Parkway, an urban trail we have
previously enjoyed.
When we got the bikes
unloaded and headed out, John wanted to go the other direction. I went along
for the ride, so to speak, but as we stood by the side of a busy road waiting
to cross, I felt the familiar twinges of annoyance. “Why do I agree to something
I do not want to do?” I mused inside my head.
Once across the highway,
I settled in a bit, grateful for a bike path and almost no traffic. The sun was
shining, we had little wind, and the temperature was a very comfortable 75 degrees.
My emotions are fickle, I admit that. A premenstrual teenaged girl has nothing
on me in that department…
An easy rhythm developed into our making right turns. I love the metaphor of that! Down one side street,
up the next, more and more right turns.
We spotted a garage sale
and decided to stop. Not noticing a sign “EVERYTHING ON THIS TABLE $1, I picked
up a couple of little things and asked the price. Thinking a dollar each was way too
much money for the items I had picked up, I put them back but spontaneously heard myself say, “I will take this
set of dishes.”
I could tell by looking
it was not a complete set, having only five tea cups, but it was still a bargain at $5. While in Florida I could use more dishes that are
microwave and dishwasher safe. Handing her the money, I said, “Just pack them up for me, and we will drive back and
pick them up.”
A car pulled up and
another shopper began browsing. I overheard the other woman grumble, “Damn, people. I wish they would leave us alone.” Actually,
the sale was over and they were trying to pack up.
The woman had just started carefully wrapping each of the dished and putting them into a big box when we arrived. I had an intuitive while we had been there earlier, and now as I began to help her wrap and pack, I asked her if the dishes were part of an estate
sale. “Yes, they belonged to my sister, Joanne."
"I am sorry for your
loss. How old was your sister?" I could feel her sadness.
She thought for a moment, then told me, "She was 70, and she died last
April.”
“I will say a prayer for Joanne every time I use her dishes. I will say one for you,
too…”
“What about me? Say a
prayer for me, too!” called the other woman, the one who had grumped about people still coming to buy.
"One for Joanne, and one for each of you...." I smiled gently at Joanne's sister.
Joanne’s sister had a wistful look on her face as she said, “I am glad the dishes are going to
someone who will appreciate them. They meant a lot to my sister and that means a lot
to me.” I could
feel the significance of my current reading of John Edward’s One Last Time: A psychic medium speaks to
those we have loved and lost.
As I loaded Joanne’s
dishes in the van, I could feel the truth of our lives being moved along by an
unseen benevolent force. It was as though my day had been orchestrated by a
woman I had never met so that I could bring a gift of peace to a woman I will most likely
never meet again.
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| Joanne's Johnson Brothers Indian Tree China. |
