Pennies from Heaven

My grandmother died in 1994. Not too long after that, my mom told me about the pennies she had found from Grandma. I thought that Grandma had left her a very small coin collection. This is when I learned about pennies from Heaven-that our loved ones leave us pennies so we know they are still with us. I asked Mom how to tell if it is a penny from Heaven vs. a random ol' penny just laying around. Mom said to look and see when it was minted. If it is a significant year, it is a penny from Heaven.

When I joined the young widows group after James died, I learned that our loved ones also leave us dimes. Being that they are the smallest and lightest of the coins, they are easier for our loved ones to move. Too bad quarters aren't the light ones! A case could also be made for $100 bills being pretty light, but I imagine the wind probably isn't too cooperative.

Last Saturday, I spent the day at a Habitat for Humanity construction site. I have always wanted to volunteer for them and was excited when the opportunity came up. This is the only thing I have really felt completely excited about since James passed away.

Being that James and I were about the same height, some of his shoes fit me. So, I dug his CAT work boots out and wore those to the site. They fit, but the left one was rubbing my heel the wrong way so I already had a blister by the time I got to the site. I also had a pebble rolling around in the boot. I grabbed a couple of Band-Aids from the first aid kit in my trunk and sat down to bandage my heel and get the rock out. I shook out the rock, and set the boot down. I put the Band-Aids on and reached out to pick the boot up to put it back on. Right next to the boot was a dime, minted in 1999. 1999 is when James and I met. I felt that he was there with me-probably making sure I stayed away from power tools-and cheering me on as I finally stopped saying "I will do this someday" and achieved one of my goals. I later found a 1989 penny, which is when we moved from Washington to Idaho, so I know Dad was there too-probably also hoping I stayed away from power tools.

The project was fun. We were split into groups and spent the day painting the interiors of 4 of the condos. There will be 23 when the project is complete. This morning, I signed up to be a regular volunteer. I am not sure how often I will be able to make it to the site, but I can't wait to go back. I want to finish what I started.