I found a dime!

Some people have seen me post about finding a dime in my grateful’s (five things I’m grateful for daily). Sometimes I send texts of the dime I’ve found and it’s place of discovery. Sometimes I just quietly acknowledge it and put it in my pocket until later. Regardless of how or if I share the finding, I’m always happy about it.

Am I that hard up that I’m excited about ten cents? I have been, sure. But dimes….they mean something to me.

When Shane was doing college visits, we were about mid tour when we had just left a dorm building. The guide asked us to wait for the rest of the group to come out; Shane & I stood outside amongst a group of other visitors and chatted. Shane was shuffling his feet and there it was, a dime right there in the grass. Shane said, “Well, I guess GG (Great Grandma) wants me to go to Penn State.” He’s set to graduate from PSU in May. (We ARE!)

When I’d last moved, I purchased new furniture, as I’d set my ex up for success in leaving furniture behind for him to use in his next place. My bedroom set was delivered and I was ready to unbox my clothes and add it to my new dresser! When I’d opened the bottom drawer, there was a dime.

I was flying to Atlanta to meet the Icebox team for a one day visit. My gate had been changed, I’d not received the text of the change and I was legit running through the airport to catch a bus to take me to the other side of the airport. Another passenger was doing the same. We jumped on the bus pleading to go so we wouldn’t miss the flight. The driver agreed, I grabbed a seat, and there it was…a dime. I’d made it to the gate right before closing and arrived safely for an amazing day in Atlanta.

I’ve found hundreds of dimes in hundreds of circumstances. Under keyboards at work, in parking lots, grocery stores, the washing machine and so on. It’s not about where I find them, of course they can all be explained away. It why. Sometimes even when.

In my family, when someone passes and they want to send you a sign, they send you a dime.

With my grandfather, I’d followed the pennies from Heaven belief. I was in high school and although other family members had died, we weren’t all that close. Not close enough that they would be looking out for me or wanting to tell me something. We were once or twice removed from immediate. With my grandfather, it was different. I’d grown up with my grandparents living right next door and they had a direct hand in raising me. When my grandfather was in the hospital, I’d gone to see him several times. He was unresponsive but I’d talk with him anyway. During a school day I felt compelled to go see him and when I got to the hospital, I’d told him, “Gramps, don’t say a word to anyone but I cut chorus to come see you. You know I can’t sing and they are probably not missing me.” I’d laughed and squeezed his hand. I thought I’d felt him squeeze back. Then all kinds of beeping was happening and nurses running in and I was shooed out. He’d passed. I like to think that he was waiting for my visit.

When my grandmother died, my mom and I basically lived at the hospital. That woman hung on for much longer than anyone had thought. This was my mothers mother, so the three generations of women sat together day in and day out. We would cry at times, laugh at others, talk a lot and console her often. As the days wore on we would encourage her to let go, she had visits from extended family and we thought that she was waiting until her 100th birthday. So we all got together for a centennial celebration; she wasn’t fooled. Anyway, my mom and I sat across from one another, my grandmother between us and we were sprinting down memory lane sharing one story after another and laughing ’til tears. She exhaled. She passed.

Wasn’t more than 24 hours that I’d found a dime.

I don’t often ask for one, I trust her instincts still. She knows when I really need some encouragement or confirmation. Sometimes I don’t need a thing but thrilled to know she’s thinking of me. She certainly knows when I’m thinking of her.

In our family, it’s never really a good bye, just some long stretches of ‘see you again’ and during those times, the dimes are the reminders.

(Note: being my grandmother loved to travel but hardly went anywhere, each dime I find I mark with GG. She’s been to Florida, Texas, Georgia, California, Italy, France, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, NYC, Bahamas & Colorado. She’s seen some great sights and left in the best fountains, parks, gardens & sights. That’s what I do with all of the dimes.)

I hope that it’s a long time before you lose a loved one, but when the time comes, I hope you find a dime.